


Spirit Keys and Santoryu: An Unlikely Love Story

by BringerofDarkness



Category: Fairy - Fandom, Fairy Tail, One Piece
Genre: F/M, Romantic Comedy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-08
Updated: 2016-12-21
Packaged: 2018-05-25 13:52:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 45,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6197545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BringerofDarkness/pseuds/BringerofDarkness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Acnologia attacks Tenrou Island, Mavis Vermillion, founder of Fairy Tail, casts Fairy Sphere, one of the three great fairy spells, to protect all the members on the island. However, something goes wrong and she accidently sends a certain blonde Celestial Mage to the world of One Piece. Will Lucy be able to survive in this world of pirates, marines, and devil fruits? And will she finally find love in a certain green haired swordsman with a horrible sense of direction?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Spell Mishaps and a Falling Mage

Mavis let out a small sigh of relief as Tenroe Island was safely encased in the Fairy Sphere, protecting the third’s members from Acnologia’s attack. Just to be sure, she did a quick headcount. The four dragon slayers, the 3 exceeds, the third master, the card mage, the 3 Strauss siblings, the ice mage, the solid script mage, the ex-quip mage, the crash mage, and the three underlings of the Thunder God Tribe. Mavis blinked. That wasn’t right? She counted again. Nope, that was it. 

“Hn, that’s odd, I could have sworn there was one more . . . where’s the Celestial Mage?” she asked herself, her eyes widening in realization on the last part. “Oh dear . . . it seems I made a little mistake, I do hope she’s alright . . . ”

Mavis closed her eyes and concentrated. She was trying to feel a connection to the missing mage through the girl’s Fairy Tail mark. Her eyes shot open as she felt it. The connection was extremely faint, as if the mage was very, very, very far away. Mavis felt a sense of relief, at least the Celestial Mage was alive, now she all she could do is hope that she would be safe. She giggled as she had a thought.

“Who am I kidding? Of course she’ll be alright, she is a member of Fairy Tail after all.” she reasoned happily.

• • •

It was just another normal day for the crew of the Going Merry. The ship’s rubber Captain was begging the crew’s blonde haired chef for food. The crew’s orange haired navigator was keeping an eye out for any surprise storms while managing the crew’s finances. The crew’s sharpshooter was making some ammunition for his slingshot. The crew’s archeologist was reading and drinking a delicious tea made by the chef, occasionally looking up from her book to smile at the crew’s antics. The ship’s doctor was the only one currently below deck, busy grinding up ingredients for his Rumble Balls and various other medicines. And last, but certainly not least, was the crew’s green haired swordsman and first mate, swords resting against his shoulders as he sat back against the mast, trying to take a nap. 

Key word: Trying.

“Sanji! I’m hungry! Make me some food, meat! Meat!” Luffy whined, clinging to the chef.

“God dammit Luffy you just ate an hour ago! You can wait!” Sanji shouted at his Captain.

Eyes closed, a nerve in Zoro’s brow began twitching.

“But I’m hungry!” the Captain persisted.

Finally, Zoro’s temper snapped as he bolted up from his position of sitting up against the mast. “God dammit you two, would  
you shut the hell up!? I’m trying to get some sleep assholes!”

“Huh? No one cares, you shitty swordsman.” said Sanji.

“What? You wanna fight, you damned pervert cook!?” shouted Zoro, getting into Sanji’s face.

Sanji responded in kind. “What’d you call me, moss-head?”

Usopp sighed. “Here they go again.”

They had just left the desert kingdom of Alabasta after helping it’s Princess, Vivi, stop the civil war that would have destroyed her country. The crew was starting to get back to normal, though they still missed the Princess. Some might also find it hard to believe just how quickly the Straw Hats adjusted to their new crewmate, the mysterious Nico Robin, considering she had once been considered an enemy. Tuning out the sound of his two crewmates arguing in the background, Usopp turned his attention to the sky.

He saw something that surprised him. There was something falling from the sky. Curious, Usopp adjusted his goggles to zoom in on the falling object and when he did his jaw nearly dropped to the deck. He started stammering and making strange sounds in his attempts at speech, this drew the attention of Robin, making her look up inquisitively from her book.

“Is something wrong, Long-nose-san?” she asked.

This caused Sanji to forget that he was arguing with Zoro while Luffy whined about food. “Hn, does my lovely Robin-chwan~ need something?” he asked eagerly, doing his little noodle dance over to her.

Robin smiled at him. “No, I’m fine, Cook-san. I was just asking Usopp something.”

The seemed to get the attention of the rest of the crew, only now noticing Usopp’s odd behavior. Now everyone’s curious attention was on Usopp, even Luffy’s. Chopper was excluded since he was still below deck.

“S-S-S-S-SOMEONE’S FALLING!!!” Usopp finally managed to shriek.

Usopp was a liar, but everyone on the ship knew he was a horrible liar, except Luffy . . . . and maybe Chopper. As such, they knew he wasn’t lying when he said this, so with expressions of shock, except for Robin, they all whipped their heads up to see what he was looking at. They saw that, indeed, there did appear to be someone falling from the sky.

“Why the hell is someone falling from the sky?!” shouted Zoro.

“H-how should I know?!” Usopp answered.

“Well you’re the one who saw him! Didn’t you see anything else?!” Zoro demanded.

“No! I didn’t see anything!” Usopp replied, not sure why he was getting interrogated.

“Ah! Maybe it’s a beautiful angel!” Sanji said, hearts in eyes and practically twirling with happiness.

“. . . You moron, if it was an angel it’d be flying, not falling.” Zoro said, irritated with the cook.

“Oi, oi, you trying to be smart with me, moss-head?” said Sanji, getting angry.

“Well someone has to be.” Zoro replied.

“Yishishishi! This is going to be fun! Gomu Gomu no . . . ” said Luffy with an excited look, stretching his arm out to catch the falling person. However, his hand just barely missed as the person in question plummeted into the ocean. “Ah! I missed!”

Zoro went into automatic as a result of him having to save Luffy from drowning one too many times. Boots and katana thunked and clattered respectively as they hit the deck. This was quickly followed by a splash as he dove off the side of the ship. The rest of the crew calmed down, Robin going back to reading, Nami to managing finances, and Sanji lit up a cigarette as Luffy waited anxiously to see the mysterious falling person. 

He didn’t have to wait long. Zoro was a good swimmer, and a fast one too. The person had hit the water about 50 yards away from the Going Merry but it didn’t take long for Zoro to get there. Once he reached the area where the person had hit the water, he took a deep breath and dove down. He spotted the person almost immediately, sinking towards the bottom of the Grand Line. He quickly swam down and grabbed her, for it was a her, but this thought was pushed aside in favor of concentrating on swimming.

Zoro heaved the girl over the railing of the ship, before jumping over himself. Now everyone could finally get a good look at the person that had caused such a ruckus. She was young, around 16 or 17 years old. She might have been older or younger, but it couldn’t be by much. It was clear she had recently been in a fight, based on the bandages and wrappings. Her golden blonde hair fell past her shoulders. Sanji had gone to fetch Chopper from below deck while Zoro saved the girl and they came up now.

As soon as Sanji laid his eyes on the girl, his eyes turned to hearts. “Mellorine! Ah, it really was an angel that fell from the sky!” he said, looking up at the sky gratefully. 

Chopper, however, noticed that the girl didn’t seem to be breathing and started freaking out. “AHHH!! SOMEONE!! WE NEED A DOCTOR!!!!” he screamed, running around on the deck. He then stopped remember something vital. “Oh right, I’m a doctor.”

He transformed into his heavy point a picked her up so that she was kneeling, and began patting her back. After a few pats her eyes snapped open as she began retching up seawater. Chopper turned back to his usual form. “Are you okay?” he asked her, but was quickly pushed aside by Sanji, who knelt next to her. Zoro took off his shirt and began wringing the water out of it.

“Ah, mademoiselle, are you alright?” he asked flirtatiously.

The girl turned to look at Sanji, revealing warm, chocolate brown eyes. Sanji’s eyes turned into hearts and his heart burst from his chest as he fell backwards. The girl made a confused look at Sanji. Nami sighed and bonked Sanji on the head, surprising the girl. 

“Moron,” Nami muttered. She turned to the girl. “Don’t mind him. He may be a pervert, but he’s harmless. Are you okay?”

The girl looked around. “I-I’m . . . fine. Um, where exactly am I?” she asked.

“You’re on our ship, the Going Merry.” Nami answered.

“Hey, why were you falling from the sky?” Luffy asked excitedly.

This question seemed to startle her. “I-I don’t know.” She looked around, as if looking for someone, ignoring Sanji cooing in the background. “Was there anyone else?” she asked, looking concerned.

“N-no, it was just you.” said Usopp, who seemed to currently be cowering by the mast.

“Oh, I see.” she said depressed, looking around one last time. “Um, one other question, why am I soaking wet?”

“You fell into the ocean.” Zoro, making her turn. 

Noticing Zoro’s wet hair and clothes, the girl came to the logical conclusion. “You saved me?”

Zoro nodded. “Yeah, just who are you anyway?”

“Oh, right.” said the girl. “My name’s Lucy Heartfilia, and I’m Fairy Tail’s Celestial Mage.”

The entire crew was silent until Luffy asked, “What’s a Celestial Mage? And what’s Fairy Tail?”


	2. A New Crew Member

“You mean . . . you don’t know about Fairy Tail?” Lucy asked, shocked. Fairy Tail was one of, if not the most, famous guild Fiore.

The crew shook their heads, except for Sanji who was busy fawning over Lucy. Lucy on the other hand couldn’t believe it. She shook her head and began to explain. “Fairy Tail is a mage guild I’m a part of, it’s one of the most famous guilds in Fiore. And a celestial mage is someone who can summon spirits from the celestial realm using gatekeys.”

Luffy nodded thoughtfully, then grinned up at Lucy. “I didn’t get that at aaalllll!” 

The crew plus Lucy sweat-dropped at the Straw Hat Captain. Lucy sighed trying to figure out how to explain the situation to the, ah, less than intelligent Captain when they were all distracted by the sound of a young girl giggling. They turned to see a young girl with long pale hair, fair complexion, and green eyes.

Lucy’s eyes widened. “You’re-!”

“Mavis Vermillion, yes.” said the girl. “This ship seem like a lot of fun.” she giggled, despite the fact that some of the crew had gone into defensive positions. She continued speaking to Lucy. “You’ll have to forgive me, Lucy Heartfilia. When Acnologia attacked the island I used everyone’s feelings to channel my magic enough so that I could cast Fairy Sphere which, as you have probably guessed already, is one of the great Fairy Magics. However, something went wrong when I cast the spell and I may have ended sending you to an alternate dimension. Don’t worry though, everyone is safe. They’ll all wake up in seven years, when the spell wears off.”

“Seven years?!” Lucy exclaimed. “Well, can you send me back?”

Mavis looked at Lucy gravely. “I’m afraid not, it was all I could do to appear to you here. When your friends wake up in seven years, I believe they may be able to bring you back, unless you find a way to come back before then, which, while highly unlikely, is still a small possibility.”

Lucy sighed. “At least everyone’s alright.” she said.

“I have to go now, I can’t remain here much longer. But I would suggest you use this opportunity to train. People in this world are very strong, so you’ll need to get stronger.” said Mavis before fading.

Nami and Usopp screamed in terror. “G-G-G-GHOST!!”

Robin’s eyes widened in surprise and Sanji proclaimed with hearts in his eyes, “Don’t worry Robin-chwan, Nami-swan, Lucy-swan, I’ll protect you!” 

“SSOOOO COOOOOL!!!!!” shouted Luffy, his eyes sparkling.

Zoro gaped in disbelief and Lucy just looked at the crew, dumbfounded and surprised at the outbursts. Nami and Usopp began to yell at Luffy and Robin regained her composure. Sanji cooed over the three women onboard the ship and Zoro just sighed. 

“Is it . . . always like this?” Lucy asked Zoro. 

“For the most part, yes. Why?” he said, turning to look at her and was shocked to see and almost loving smile as she watched the crew. 

“Nothing, I guess I like it when things are a little rowdy, it’s more fun that way, isn’t it?” she said with a gentle smile.

“Y-yeah.” Zoro said, staring at her.

Luffy hopped over to her. “Hey, hey, you said you could summon spirits right?” Lucy nodded. “Then can you summon one for us?” he asked, putting the curious attention of the majority of the crew on Lucy.

She beamed at them. “Of course. Open,” she said, grabbing one of the silver keys at her waist. “gate of the little dog, I summon thee . . . Nikora!” 

The crew watched intently as a bubble of golden light appeared and transformed into a white . . . thing with a carrot nose. “Pun pun.” it said in greeting as it’s little body shook. They all stared at it.

“Well, nice try anyway.” said Zoro. 

“That’s the way he’s supposed to look!” Lucy snapped.

Nami squealed and picked Plue up. “He’s adorable!”

Robin smiled. “He is quite cute.”

Luffy stared at the Plue then turned to Lucy. “Can I eat him?”

Lucy answered him with a Lucy Kick to the face, sending him flying into the mast. “No, you can’t eat him! He’s my friend!”

Somewhat dazed from the kick, Luffy grinned and laughed sheepishly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know he was a friend.”

She sighed. Luffy was like Natsu in a lot of ways, though mainly in the aspect of apparel and their mannerisms, Lucy was even willing to bet that Luffy at a lot as well. When she looked up she say that Luffy was standing just a few feet away from her, staring at her intently. 

“W-what is it?” asked Lucy, a little startled at his sudden seriousness. 

Luffy grinned. “Ne, Lucy, join my crew!”

Usopp and Nami both punched the back of Luffy’s head. “Idiot! Don’t go inviting random people into our crew!” they shouted at him.

As the crew devolved into arguing, Lucy felt a pat on her leg looked down to see Plue. “Pun Pun?” he said. 

Lucy smiled at him. “Of course.” she said. “Gate of the little dog, close.” And with that, Plue disappeared back into the spirit realm. She smiled as she watched the grew argue and was reminded of Fairy Tail and the thought made her feel homesick already. Figuring that if she was going to be stuck here for seven years, she might as well enjoy herself and have fun, and she felt she could trust these people. 

She gave them her signature thousand what smile. “I’ll join.”

The crew members stopped. “What?” they asked in unison, except Luffy who grinned wider than what should have been possible. 

“I believe,” said Robin, who was still sitting with her book and tea, “than Miss Mage said she’d join our crew.”

Lucy, still smiling, nodded in confirmation. Luffy and Sanji immediately started celebrating. The others, minus Robin, just sighed.

“Sanji! We have a new nakama! Make some food!” Luffy cheered.

“Of course! I’ll make a delicious meal for the lovely Lucy-swan!” Sanji said, practically dancing to the ship’s kitchen.

“Welcome aboard the ship I guess.” said Zoro in a somewhat bored tone.

Nami and Usopp sighed. “I guess I can’t be helped.” said Nami.

It was then that Chopper decided come up from downstairs and was almost immediately smothered in Lucy’s . . . ample bosom. “Oh he’s so cute!” she squealed. She held him out at arm’s length.

Chopper was blushing but had a grin on his face. “Like calling me cute will make be happy, asshole!”

After setting Chopper down, Lucy was introduced to the entire crew and she was stunned to find out and that, not only was Luffy their Captain, but they were also pirates as well. Despite this, they didn’t actually seem like bad people. They just seemed like a group of mis-fits, not much unlike Fairy Tail. She had a feeling that being with this crew was going to be quite the adventure.


	3. Zoro the Pervert

Lucy and Robin were having an enjoyable conversation about this world’s history while Nami checked the log pose, Sanji fawned over the women, Luffy played with Usopp, Chopper, and Plue, and Zoro was training. After a bit, when Luffy and Usopp were thinking of another game they could play, Luffy began talking about how wished it would snow, causing Nami to yell at him as she didn’t want it to snow. Sighing, she checked the log pose again to make sure they hadn’t gone off course while she had been yelling at Luffy.

Several small things fell from the sky, making Usopp look up as he wondered aloud if it was raining. Once he saw what was actually falling, he shrieked, causing everyone else to look up and they started screaming as well. No one could blame them though, there was a giant ship falling from the sky. After the ship narrowly missed smashing theirs to bits and some mayhem with a skeleton, or the skull of one at least, things started calming down.

Once everyone had calmed down, Robin suggested that they scavenge the ship for any clues as to why it fell from the sky. Luffy even asked Lucy if it came from her world, to which she gave a negative answer. At this current time, they had found out that the ship, called the Saint Briss, had set sail from the South Blue about 200 years ago and they found a map of a place called Skypiea, an island in the sky. A couple crew members put on some diving gear and went down to salvage the ship further.

While they were down there, a ship captained by some ape-looking individuals, that reminded Lucy a little too much of Vulcans, and they learned that the people in question were ship scavengers. Everyone tried to hide the fact that there were already a couple members of the crew down there so they didn’t get into a fight with these guys.

As the other Straw Hats tried to distract them from finding out about their crewmates that were down below, Lucy contemplated what Mavis had told her. She had said there were very powerful people in this world and that Lucy would have to get a lot stronger in order to face future challenges. Lucy realized that Mavis was right, she had to get stronger. She couldn’t just keep relying on her spirits, and she hated being a burden on her friends.

From what she understood, Zoro, Sanji, and Luffy were the strongest fighters on the ship; so she decided to ask Luffy and Zoro to help train her. She had contemplated asking Sanji to train her as well, but figured he wouldn’t be able to concentrate on actually training her. As far as she could figure, Luffy was a hand-to-hand fighter, given that he had no weapons to speak of, so she was going to ask him to teach her hand-to-hand combat. Zoro was obviously a swordsman, but she thought maybe he could help her in fighting against someone with weapons and maybe increase her proficiency with her whip.

Nami told the other crew about how their log pose was pointing up and they agreed to take them to the nearby island of Jaya. The two crews parted ways once the island was in sight, the Straw Hats going to dock at Mock Town, and the other crew headed back to the sinking ship to finish salvaging it. Nami, Zoro, and Luffy went into town to see if they could get any information about this “Sky Island.” Robin went into town to do the same but separately.

After they left, Lucy summoned Capricorn so she could make a contract with him and so she could ask him how she could strengthen her powers. Once she had made the contract, she sat in a meditative position just as Capricorn had told her. Following his instruction, Lucy began releasing her magical energy, catching the attention of Chopper, Sanji, and Usopp.

The training didn’t last long as she had soon grew tired and fell back onto the deck, panting. It had been a lot harder than she had expected it to be. Capricorn then told her that this was the way that her own mother had trained, a thought that warmed her heart. It was at this time that Nami and the beaten Luffy and Zoro returned, causing Chopper to nearly have a heart attack. Capricorn returned to the Celestial Realm upon their arrival.

“Why are you two so beaten up?!” Lucy exclaimed.

Zoro and Luffy exchanged looks. “We promised Nami that we wouldn’t fight anybody.” said Luffy, grinning in a way that reminded her of Natsu.

Nami’s brow twitched angrily as she grumbled something that sounded like, “I told you to fight back you morons!” as Chopper began to treat their injuries.

“Did you at least manage to find out anything about Sky Island?” Chopper asked. 

The poor reindeer nearly had a heart attack for the second time in five minutes when he saw Nami’s expression. “Sky Island? I don’t want to hear about that place ever again, just mentioning that place got us laughed at!”

“Well if you still want to find out about it,” said Robin, reappearing from her trip into town. “There’s a man who lives on the other side of the island. The locals think he’s a quack, but he firmly believes in the existence of Sky Island. It may be beneficial to us to find out what he knows.”

This got everyone’s spirits up again and they sailed around the island to find the man’s hut/fake castle. They found several gold objects in the house, including a gold statue of a strange bird. They went outside just as its owner returned, jumping out of the sea like a fish, and attacked them. The fight didn’t last very long before the man collapsed. According to Chopper, his body was weak because he was spending too long underwater without giving his body time to repair and recover before diving again.

When the man woke up, he introduced himself as Montblanc Cricket. Then the ship scavengers from before showed up and they found out that they were actually friends with the man. Cricket told them how he was the descendant of Noland the Liar and told them the whole story of his ancestor after they read the book version of it he had in his house. Lucy’s heart went out to the deceased Noland and to Cricket for facing the ridicule of having been his descendant. Her eyes were watery by the time he had finished.

He told them that the only way they would be able to get to Sky Island was by using the massive geyser of water known as the Knock Up Stream, which, conveniently enough, would be erupting the next morning. The Knock Up Stream was directly south of the island. When Nami asked Cricket how they would find the geyser, despite the fact that compasses don’t work in the Grand Line, he told her that they would have to find and capture a species of bird, native to the island, that was used in ancient times for navigation. The Southbird was called such because they always faced south.

And so it was that Zoro and Lucy were walking through the forest, trying to find one of the birds while Cricket and his two friends worked on the Going Merry to increase their chances of successfully making it up the Knock Up Stream. So far they had encountered several extremely large bugs, which Lucy wasn’t too happy about to say the least, but Zoro always took care of them quickly.

They were having a moment of reprieve from being attack by giant bugs when Lucy figured that now was as good as any to ask him if he would train her. “Hey Zoro?”

She received a questioning grunt in response, and so continued. “Could you . . . help me with my training?” When he gave her a confused look, she elaborated further. “I know I’m not a swordswoman or anything like that but I thought maybe you could teach me how to fight without relying on my spirits all the time? I know I’m not very strong, so I don’t want to be a burden on the crew.”

Zoro hummed thoughtfully as he looked her over, trying to decide whether or not he should agree as she stood there nervously, waiting for his answer. “Alright, I’ll train you. But if you whine about it I won’t train you anymore. Got it?”

Lucy beamed at him and nodded. “Got it.” she said in confirmation.

The moment was ruined though as a giant beetle fell from the trees and right at Lucy. Zoro pushed her behind him with one hand while the other drew Wadou Ichimonji and slashed it away from them. He briefly registered that his hand was touching something soft before he experienced, first hand, what it was like to receive a “Lucy Kick” to the chest.

“Pervert!” Lucy screamed as she kicked him, sending him into a nearby tree.

‘W-what the hell?! I thought she said she was weak! Wait a minute . . . did she just call me a . . . ‘ he thought as he stared in shock at Lucy, who was currently blushing profusely with her arms covering her chest. “Why the hell am I a pervert?!” Zoro exclaimed. 

“You touched my breast!!!” Lucy shouted at him.

Zoro was so shocked that his mouth failed to work for a few moments. “No I didn’t!” he exclaimed when he finally did get his mouth working again.

They probably would have kept arguing for some time if they hadn’t heard the sound of a strange bird. Instantly, they both stopped yelling at each other and shared a look that silently asked the same question. Again they heard the strange bird call. With a nod, they ran towards the sound. It didn’t take them long to find the Southbird, sitting in a tree. The bird cawed at them and took off, flying away, but Lucy had other ideas.

She grabbed the cylinder at her belt and shouted, “Fleuve d'etoiles!”

From the cylinder erupted a bright, sparkling blue stream wrapped in a ribbon of golden energy. Lucy flicked the whip deftly and it stretched, wrapping around the Southbird, making it let out a surprised squawk as it started falling. Zoro caught the bird before it hit the ground.

“Thanks.” Lucy said, going over to him and tying the Southbird up with her normal whip. The other whip had returned to just being a cylinder.

“Nice work with that whip.” said Zoro as she tied the bird up.

Lucy smiled at him. “Thanks. C’mon, let’s get back to the others. Here, carry the bird.”

“Hah? Why do I have to carry the bird?” asked Zoro.

“Because I did all the work.” said Lucy.

Grumbling, Zoro picked up the Southbird and followed Lucy as she walked back to Cricket’s hut.

• • •

After they reunited with the rest of the crew, and received compliments for catching the elusive bird, they returned to Cricket’s hut only to find him and his two friends injured and bloody. As it turned out, the people who had beaten up Zoro and Luffy had attacked them and taken Cricket’s gold while the crew had been out looking to the Southbird. Chopper tended to their wounds while Luffy walked towards Mock Town.

When Nami tried to stop him, Zoro stopped her and shook his head no, telling her that she should leave him be. Lucy had to agree with Zoro, having seen Luffy’s expression for herself. Again, she was reminded of Natsu when he got really serious, though Luffy’s expression had seemed much more . . . dangerous. She hadn’t even thought he was capable of making such an expression.

By the time they almost had to leave, the Going Merry looked more like a chicken than a ram. Luffy made it back just in time for them to set sail, with Cricket’s gold in tow. After thanking Luffy, they were led to where the Knock Up Stream would be erupting. There, they were confronted by some people on a raft but before a fight broke out, the Knock Up Stream erupted, shooting the Straw Hats into the air, screaming for their lives as they shot upwards towards Skypiea.


	4. Skypiea

An undetermined amount of time later, the crew began waking up to find their ship sailing on the clouds, something that Lucy would have believed impossible before today, despite the fact she had gone to a parallel dimension and had come to this dimension which didn’t even have magic. 

Lucy, Zoro, Sanji, and Luffy were the first part of the group to wake up, soon followed by Robin and Chopper, then Usopp and Nami. Here were some of the first things they noticed upon waking. First, they were literally in the clouds. Second, the “wings” on the Going Merry had been ripped off. And third, someone had changed all their clothes. Sanji however, noticed a fourth thing, and to say he was not pleased would a grave understatement.

“WHY THE HELL ARE YOU WEARING CLOTHES THAT MATCH LUCY-SWAN’S, YOU DAMNED MOSS-HEAD!!??” Sanji roared at the green haired swordsman, his visible eye practically flaming with rage.

“How the hell should I know?!” Zoro shouted back at him. It was true, out of the entire group, Lucy and Zoro were the only ones with matching outfits. 

Lucy was wearing a red and black, vertical striped bralette with leather straps underneath and around the outer side of her chest, leading up to a brown leather choker with a regular, downwards facing copper key held just below the center of her neck. Her mini-skirt was made of a soft brown leather and had a trailing back so that it nearly went down to her ankles at the back. The stockings she wore were made of a sleek, black material that looked somewhat like silk and were held up by wide bands of cloth, coming up to within just a few inches of the front edge of her mini-skirt. 

Her boots were also made of a brown leather coming almost up to her knees and with three inch heels. There copper buttons that ran up and down the outer side of the boots. On her right hand was brown leather glove that went a little past her wrist. It had an open back with a thin strap of leather across the opening to show her Fairy Tail guild mark. On her left hand was a glove that was like her stockings and went all the way up to the middle of her bicep. At her was her whip, the cylinder for her celestial whip, and her key pouch. A black ribbon held her hair up in her signature side ponytail.

Zoro was wearing a sleeveless, snug black shirt that appeared to be made from the same material as Lucy’s stockings. Over that he had a red and black, vertical striped vest on. His pants were brown leather and his haramaki was replaced with a black leather belt with two additional straps hanging off the right side one of his katana was attached to the belt while the two were attached to the two additional straps. His boots had been switched for ones that were identical to Lucy’s apart from not having elevated heels and having thicker, meatier soles. A copper key hung from a leather string around his neck and rested on the outside of his shirt.

Nami was wearing a sky blue bikini with gold swirling patterns. A blue wraparound with a single gold strip near the bottom was fastened around her hips with a thin, white belt. To complete the look were high-heeled cork sandals with silver colored straps.

Robin was wearing an outfit of a darker color scheme, consisting of purples and blacks. The shirt she wore was a magenta color and seemed to be made of silk. It was a button up an there was some frilling on either side of the buttons, of which, a few top ones were undone so that the collar was open. For her lower half, the shirt was loosely tucked into a tight, black, mid-thigh skirt, to which a silver belt was added to for looks. Dark purple, mid-shin high-heeled boots completed the outfit.

Usopp’s overalls had been switched in favor of a teal jumpsuit, the waist of which was decorated with a dark green belt. The upper part of the jumpsuit was left open to show a maroon undershirt. He wore the same brown shoes he always did and his satchel and goggles were left alone.

Luffy was wearing a snug black shirt that showed off his stomach with a green, high collared cape that had a white trim. His pants were black and poofed, ending past his knees. The pants had been tucked into a pair of dark green boots, but Luffy had kicked them off in favor of his sandals, and there was a dark green cloth with a black trim hanging in front of his pants. As always he wore his straw hat, creating a bit of a mismatched look.

Sanji . . . well he was just wearing a light blue suit with a red tie and a white undershirt. Basically his clothes weren’t much different than what he usually wore. And last, but not least, was Chopper. Now, although it was the cutest thing in three worlds, he was, for some reason, wearing a white bunny suit with a hood that had bunny ears attached to it. The hood was resting on top of his pink, cross hat.

“Cute . . . “ said Robin, pretty much staring at Chopper.

Unfortunately for Chopper, Lucy and Nami were not so restrained. “Cute!” they squealed, the both of them picking him up and smothering him between their breasts.

"Do you like them, Lucy-sama?" said Virgo, appearing out of nowhere once again.

Lucy smiled at the maiden spirit. "Thank you Virgo. As always you make the cutest clothes, I figured this was your doing."

"If that is all, I'll be leaving, Lucy-sama." Virgo said before disappearing, appearing to drill into the deck of the ship.

Sanji whined about he was jealous of Chopper and Luffy gushed over how cool having a cape was. Zoro just grunted and ignored them. Then both he and Usopp spotted something odd. There was someone riding on the clouds and was approaching them, and at a very fast pace at that. 

The crews antics were suddenly disrupted when the man riding on the clouds attacked them. Frighteningly, the group’s main fighters weren’t able to defend themselves, Luffy, Sanji, Zoro and Robin having been taken out before they could do anything. Taking action, Lucy summoned Loke to help fight as she took out her whip. She wasn’t much use due to the thinness of the air, but that didn’t seem to be a problem for the celestial spirit.

“Regulus: Punch!” he shouted, his fist encased in light as her punched the strange man, stunning him. 

Once he had regained his senses, he ran off, with Loke smirking triumphantly after him. He knelt by Lucy. “Hime-sama, are you alright?” he asked with a charming smile, holding out his hand.

Lucy took it graciously. “Thanks Loke, sorry I wasn’t much help.” she said as he helped her stand. 

“That’s fine, Lucy-sama, I’ll always be here whenever you need me.” he said flirtatiously, kissing the back of her gloved hand.   
Lucy’s face deadpanned at the flirting. “Yeah, yeah.” she said, gently prying her hand from his. “Thanks for helping Loke, you can go now.” she said, closing his gate.

“SO COOL!!!” Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp all exclaimed.

Sanji began swooning over Lucy. She almost laughed. The crew reminded her much of Fairy Tail, considering the four that had been taken down were already on their feet again.

“Amazing, it normally takes people from the blue sea a few days to adjust to the air up here.” said a new voice.

They all turned to see and old man carrying a lance and wearing a full suit of plate armor sitting on, of all things, a pink bird with purple polka dots. That’s right, a large pink bird, with purple polka dots. Even Lucy, someone who came from Fairy Tail, had a weirdness boundary, and it had just been crossed.

The old man introduced himself as Dan Fall and told them how they could get to the island of Skypiea. He gave them a key they could use to call him in case they needed help again, then the bird turned into a pegasus and they both flew away. For Lucy, the weirdness threshold had definitely been breached. On a side note, everyone was quickly adapting to the thinner air up in the clouds and they continued on their journey. 

After a little bit, they came along an old woman named Amazon who was guarding the entrance. Amazon demanded an entrance fee of one million extol. Since Nami didn’t know what that was, she and the rest of the crew just entered without paying the fee, ignoring the old woman’s warnings that they’d be criminals.

When they reached the shore of the island, everyone immediately noticed that the shore was super soft, though it was to be expected since it was made of clouds, just as everything else. Then they heard the sound of someone playing a harp, it wasn’t as good as Lyra’s but it came close. The oddest thing about the girl playing the harp . . . was that she appeared to have small wings coming out of her back.

After they started talking to her, the girl introduced herself as Conis. Then a group called the White Berets, this island’s version of a military, showed up. After refusing to pay the fine, a fight broke out between the White Berets and Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Lucy, and Robin. The Straw Hats won the fight and Conis offered to hide them at her father’s house where they could eat. Chopper, Nami, Robin, Zoro, and Lucy stayed on the ship while the rest went to Conis’ house to eat, that’s where they were told about the shells they called “dials”.

The real surprise came when an extremely large sky crab, nothing surprised Lucy at this point, carried the ship of to another, nearby island and left them at an oddly structured ruin. When the other found out they their ship and crew members had been carried off, Conis lead Usopp, Luffy, and Sanji to find a ship, eventually pointing out a small ship that belonged to her and her father.

Luffy noticed that Conis was shaking, and she broke down admitting that she had called the giant crab and that she was leading them to God’s Island, or the Upper Yard, and that the punishment for not doing so would mean her death. The other civilians of the islands began running away from her as she said this. Not even a minute after, a pillar of blue lightning was brought down on her, leaving a massive hole in the cloud island. 

Just as Usopp began freaking out, and before Luffy and Sanji could go into a rage at this “God” Enel, they saw Gan Fall carrying Conis on his pegasus. As Conis and her father were now considered criminals, Gan Fall offered to take them to his house, which was out of Enel’s reach. When he offered the same to the Straw Hats, what Luffy responded with something shocking, nearly literally so.

He grinned widely and said, “Thanks old man, but I gotta go save my crew!” he said, beginning to head towards Conis’ ship.   
Sanji and a shaking Usopp followed him. Everyone was shocked at their bravery, loyalty, or stupidity. They were still going to go after their friends, despite seeing a very clear display of Enel’s power. The only one that even seemed scared was Usopp, though he was going in spite of that.

“Yosh! To Upper Yard!” Luffy shouted.

“Sit down you idiot!” Sanji yelled, kicking his Captain in the head as the ship began going towards Enel’s Island. 

None of them knew what they would face, the trials they would experience, or even that they would become part of a game. All that any of them knew, was that they would be in for one hell of an adventure. But more than anything, they knew that they needed to help their friends.


	5. Zoro of the Jungle

Being a member of Fairy Tail, Lucy had seen many strange and weird things. However, nothing she’d ever seen in Fairy Tail could have prepared her for when a freaking shark leapt out of the cloud water and at the Going Merry. Nami, Chopper, and Lucy screamed, well, more like shrieked when the sky shark leapt out of the water and tried to eat them. Zoro on the other hand, was cool as a cucumber as he drew one of his swords and leapt off the ship and at the sky shark. 

It was over in an instant. In a single strike from Zoro’s sword, the sky shark was sent flying, beaten and unconscious. Annnnnd then Zoro plummeted into the cloud water. Nami, Lucy, and Chopper anxiously watched the ripples where Zoro had gone in, waiting for him to resurface and ready to dive in if necessary. After a couple seconds, Zoro’s head popped out of the water. He climbed out of the water and onto the altar, his clothes dripping wet.

With a sigh, he stripped off his shirt. “Oi, Chopper, can you get me a dry shirt?” Zoro called up to the deck.

Just as Chopper went to get Zoro a dry change of clothes, Virgo materialized next to the green haired swordsman. “There is no need for that. I have a change of clothes right here.” she said, handing him a set of clothes exactly identical the ones he was wearing.

“Why the hell would I want to wear those?” asked Zoro. 

“If you don’t wear these clothes, you won’t match.” said the pink haired maid spirit. 

It was a little unclear whether she was talking about Zoro’s clothes, or Zoro and Lucy. Either way, it was a little difficult to tell given that Virgo’s face always had the same deadpan expression on it. Whichever one it was, Zoro couldn’t really care.

“Whatever, those clothes are way too tacky anyway, just let Chopper get my clothes.” said Zoro.

Virgo didn’t budge. “You will wear them.” she said.

“No I won-Hey! What the hell do you think you’re doing?! I-ow! Hey, where do you think you’re touching! Stop that! Let me go you bitch!” Zoro shouted and yelped.

Lucy and Nami just stared as the maiden spirit forcefully changed Zoro. Robin just stood off the side, chuckling at Zoro’s suffering. After she had finished, Virgo disappeared, leaving a very frazzled looking Zoro.

“ . . . I feel like I’ve been violated.” said Zoro, not happy with having been forcefully changed.

Nami was actually quite amused by this situation, as was Robin. However, both Lucy and Chopper felt bad for Zoro. “Oh, quit being a baby.” said Nami.

Zoro got back on the ship and they discussed what to do next. After a few minutes of talking, they all decided that they didn’t really want to stay on the ship, so they decided to explore the forest surrounding the altar. Robin was kind enough to throw down a vine so they could swing across the moat surrounding them. 

Chopper had decided that he would watch the ship in the event that the others arrived to rescue them, so Robin went first, swinging gracefully across the gap. Zoro went second, releasing some strange yodel/war cry, Lucy sweat-dropped at that. Apparently the green haired swordsman wasn’t as mature as he let on. Nami went third with shaking knees and almost swung into a tree, and would have if it hadn’t been for Robin. 

Now it was Lucy’s turn. She wasn’t scared because of how she used the Fleuve d’etoiles. The swing went smoothly . . . until the vine decided it’d had enough. Luckily, the vine had lasted long enough for Lucy to gain enough forward momentum to make it to the others before breaking. Unfortunately, however, there was nothing to somewhat control her descent, so she was sent flying at them.

It happened so quickly that Robin didn’t have time to use her powers to break Lucy’s fall. Someone else was. Zoro bolted forward to catch Lucy and was caught off guard by Lucy’s unexpectedly heavy weight, and fell back as consequence, both of them sprawling on the ground. The celestial mage groaned from the impact, and Zoro noticed that his face was buried in something warm and soft . . . and couldn’t see . . . or breath. It didn’t take him very long to figure out where his head was.

“Oh my.” said Robin, commenting on their compromising position.

Lucy shot upright, still on top of Zoro. She looked down at what had broken her fall. “Z-Zoro?!” she exclaimed. 

The swordsman’s eyes were so wide they looked about ready to pop out of his head and his cheeks were red from the embarrassment of his head just having been between Lucy’s breasts. They stared at each other in absolute shock before Lucy realized that she was still straddling Zoro’s waist and quickly scrambled off him. Robin and Nami found this to be very amusing. 

“T-thanks for catching me!” said Lucy, her voice maybe a couple octaves higher than normal, cheeks red.

“N-No problem.” said Zoro, standing and trying to act like nothing happened.

Nami started laughing, which snapped Zoro out of his embarrassment. “What the hell are you laughing at?!” he snapped.

“Look at you! You’re blushing from having a girl fall on you!” Nami said, still laughing.

Zoro growled at her. “This is from anger. Anger!” he said, pointing at his face. He wasn’t sure if he was telling Nami or himself that.

“Look, it’s nothing to worry about.” said Lucy. “Let’s just look around of a bit, I don’t want a be out here when it gets dark.” she said in a small voice, not wanting to think about what sort of creatures might live in this forest.

Nami shivered. “I agree with Luce.” 

“Alright, we should split into groups then. Mage-san, you go that way with Swordsman-san and make sure he doesn’t get lost, and Navigator-san and I will go in this way.” said Robin.

“Hah? What’s that supposed to mean?!” Zoro demanded. 

Robin chuckled with that smile of hers. “Nothing, swordsman-san.” she said before walking off with Nami.

Lucy sighed. “Just leave it be Zoro.” she said, walking in the opposite direction.

“Wait a minute! Oi! Why the hell isn’t anyone listening to me!” Zoro shouted at no one in particular as he ran after the blonde celestial mage. 

The four explored the surrounding area, Lucy having taken to holding onto Zoro’s arm so he wouldn’t wander off, which he did several times. While they were exploring, an injured Sanji, Luffy, and Usopp showed up at the ship, to which Chopper responded with lots of freaking out and a generous amount of bandages. Later, he was attacked by one of the so called heavenly priests, and though Chopper put up a good fight in order to protect his injured comrades, he ended up using the whistle to call Dan Fall for his aid.

The old knight did a much better job handling the heavenly saint, for which Chopper was really grateful. Nami, Robin, Lucy, and Zoro soon returned. They were glad that the others had found them, though not so much about their state. Dan Fall told them about the heavenly knights, and more about the god Enel and how he came to power, overthrowing the previous king. 

They moved into the forest, rather than being stuck on an altar and soon their three injured crewmates joined them. When it got dark, they were surrounded by a bunch of wolves, the leader of which Nami punched, which somehow resulting in them having a howling good time of a party. Lucy found herself laughing as she joined them. They really were just like Fairy Tail.


	6. Thunderstruck

It was well into the night before everyone had tuckered themselves out with partying drinking and they laid on the forest floor to go to sleep. The air was filled with the sounds of snoring and mutterings of love from a particular cook. Lucy, though she was very tired, was still awake and watching over them as she thought of home. 

She was dragged from her homesick thoughts as Usopp got up and wandered off into the trees, presumably to answer the call of nature. Before she could slip back into thought, she heard Usopp shriek and she ran to him, hand ready on her keys. What she saw was a very freaked out Usopp who was pointing at the ship.  
“G-g-g-g-ghost!” he exclaimed.

“Ghost!” Lucy squeaked in response, paling as she turned towards the ship She sighed in relief when she didn’t see anything. Then she slapped Usopp upside his head. “Baka! Don’t scare me like that! That’s not very nice to do!”

“B-b-but I really saw something on the ship!” Usopp said defensively. 

Lucy waved it off. “It was probably just your mind playing tricks. I’m going to bed now, and so should you.” said Lucy, walking off to leave Usopp to his business. She paused for a moment. There was something at the back of her mind that was nudging at her thoughts, but she was too tired to figure out what it was at the moment though and instead just continued on her way to bed.

• • •

The next morning, the Straw Hats woke up to find the damages caused to the ship by the fight with one of the priests were repaired and the Going Merry was back to its original appearance. At first, they all thought Usopp did it, being the only one with any repairing skills in their whole group, but he insisted that he didn’t and that he’d seen a figure on the ship last night. This perturbed them a bit, seeing as someone mysterious had repaired their ship while they were all sleeping, which was scary enough as they were enemy territory, but also made it seem like they had a hidden ally, someone who knew what the ship looked like before. 

Lucy was the only one who wasn’t so certain about this. However, they had bigger concerns, so they pushed the problem aside for now. They decided to split up. Chopper, Zoro, Luffy, and Robin all headed south into the forest while Nami, Sanji, Lucy, and Usopp got on the Going Merry to head to the Upper Yard with Gan Fall.

As the ship sailed on the cloud strip that lead to the Upper Yard, Lucy thought about this strange feeling she’d been sensing since she arrived in this world. Well, the feeling hadn’t been constant, going away when she left the ship, but it had grown slightly stronger since she’d arrived. It wasn’t so dissimilar to the feeling she got from Loke before he became one of her spirits. What she couldn’t figure out however, was why the feeling stemmed from the ship. 

While she was thinking about this, she consequently missed Gan Fall’s lecture on Impact Dials, though she supposed she could always ask for an explanation on it later if she ever needed it. And then “God” showed up and began talking to Gan Fall about how he no longer needed the island before leaving, or started to leave anyway. Just as Lucy was wondering if that was all that he’d come here for, Sanji kicked off, no pun intended, and attacked Enel. The fight only lasted an instant, Sanji ending up on the deck, defeated and smoking from being electrocuted. 

Nami, Lucy, Gan Fall, and Usopp stared on in horror. Usopp rushed over to Sanji and put his ear to his chest to see if he could hear the chef breathing. There was a brief moment of terror when Usopp turned them and told them he couldn’t hear anything . . . then she almost Lucy Kicked him into the spirit realm when he realized he’d checked the wrong side. Nami seemed to share the sentiment. They all sighed in relief when Usopp checked the correct side and informed them that Sanji still, in fact, had a heartbeat.

Feeling the need to protect their friend, Lucy and Usopp both got ready to fight Enel. Lucy summoned her newest celestial spirit, Capricorn, before getting out her whip and Usopp readied his slingshot. Seriously, what kind of weapon was a slingshot? Though Lucy supposed her whip was barely any better. As if there had been an unspoken countdown, all three of them attacked at once . . . and they failed miserably.

Enel electrocuted them all with his powers. Capricorn disappeared, going back to the spirit realm to recover, Usopp fell on conscious and smoking to the ground, and Lucy collapsed, barely conscious and paralyzed, to the deck of the Going Merry. Lucy watched with darkening vision as two guys who looked suspiciously like white balls came onto the ship and Enel left them to deal with Nami and Gan Fall before losing consciousness.

• • •

Lucy groaned in pain when she woke up. Every single nerve ending in her body ached. It was like the time she took a hit from destroying one of those orbs when Laxus created the Palace of Thunder during the Magnolia festival. Lightning was very painful, surprisingly enough. She opened her eyes to see Conis hovering over her. 

“ . . . Conis?” she asked.

“You’re awake!” Conis said happily. She turned to someone who was off to the side. “Father, Lucy’s awake!” 

So Pagaya was here as well. This thought was confirmed as his weathered and bearded face entered her field of view. “Thank goodness. You and your friends took quite a hit. They’re not awake yet, but they’ll be fine.”

Lucy sat up. She kind of wished Wendy was here . . . as well as the rest of her friends. A sudden wave of homesickness came over her. She sighed and looked around. Extra crispy Usopp and Sanji were lying next to her, whom Nami was currently caring for, though she also seemed happy that Lucy was conscious. Pagaya had said they would be fine, and she figured if she was fine, they’d be okay too. However, Pierre and Gan Fall were gone. There also seemed to be a little girl on the ship.

“Where’s Gan Fall? And who’s she?” Lucy asked, putting a hand to her aching head. 

“Gan Fall went to help the fighting.” said Nami, answering Lucy’s first question.

It was Conis who answered her second question. “This is Aisa, we picked her up when her dial boat shut down.” she explained.

For some reason, Aisa tried to run away not long after, resulting in Nami chasing after her. Lucy followed, though she didn’t know why she did it, she just did . . . and then they were attacked by a giant snake. Great, first guerillas attacking the ship, being carried off by a giant crab, sharks leaping out of the clouds, mysterious figures fixing the Going Merry, then she and her friends got electrocuted by a pale guy with 4 foot long earlobes and a god complex, and now to top it all off, they were now being chased by a GIANT SNAKE!!

Nami’s newly acquired waver, Aisa, Lucy, and Nami all tried to escape from the snake by going deeper into the jungle, but it was going too slow, carrying two fully grown women and a child. Telling Nami to keep Aisa safe, she jumped off the waver and summoned the Bull spirit, Taurus, and activated her magical whip, preparing to fight the snake. That was all well and good, but the heroics were kind of lost when Taurus was crushed, forcing him to return to the Celestial Realm . . . and then she got swallowed by the snake. Oh this day just kept getting better and better!

Disgusting as being inside a snake was, it was actually kind of amazing. There were ancient ruins and tons of treasure, though Lucy was pretty sure snake should have er . . . dispelled most of the treasure. She was torn from her thoughts about . . . nature when she heard Luffy’s voice. She followed the sound until she met up with him. Soon enough, they were joined by Gan Fall, Pierre, Nami, and Aisa. And then their world started spinning, literally. They couldn’t tell from inside the snake, but Enel had just used his devil fruit powers to blast a hole in the layer of clouds they were on resulting in the snake, as well as Zoro, Wyper, and Robin, falling to the clouds below.

Somehow, Lucy, Nami, and Gan Fall escape . . . though they accidentally left behind Pierre, Luffy and Aisa . . . whoops. Then the python got electrocuted. ‘WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN!!??’ Lucy wailed in her head as she ran after Gan Fall. Nami hid behind the rubble while Lucy and Gan Fall joined Wyper, Robin, and Zoro in facing off against Enel. 

He looked over all of them. “Hmm, 7 survivors, I predicted there would be 6 survivors of this game and there are three minutes until time is up, one of you shall have go. So, who should it be?” Enel asked them.

‘Game? Has this really all been just a game to him?! Sanji and Usopp almost died, and Zoro and Robin look like hell, and he says this is all just a game to him?! I won forgive him! I won’t forgive him for hurting my friends!’ Lucy thought to herself.

As if by some unseen signal, Gan Fall, Lucy, Zoro, Robin, and Wyper chorused, “You.” while glaring at the pretentious man who called himself a god.

Seemingly ignoring them, Enel began to explain why he was going to destroy Skypiea, because living in the sky was unnatural and he had to keep the natural order of things because he was god. The more he talked, the more Lucy was convinced that the man was insane. When Gan Fall had had enough of Enel’s talk, he attacked him . . . and was promptly defeated.

Enel smiled. “Time’s up, 6 survivors.” he said, gloating over his correct prediction.

Lucy was about to summon one of her spirits and attack him, Zoro and the other guy seemed ready to do the same but it seemed Robin wanted to talk him out of destroying the island, using the golden bell as an excuse. Lucy supposed it was all well enough to try to talk him out of destroying an entire island an killing hundreds, probably thousands, of people. Enel didn’t seem to like that. He told her that he already knew where the bell was and informed her that he hated manipulative women before attacking her with lightning.

It happened too fast for anyone to react quick enough, Zoro caught her as she fell though laying her on the ground. He drew his swords so he could attack him, and Lucy hand almost summoned Loke but Wyper beat them to the chase. Wyper used seastone to disable his logia abilities, wrapping his legs around Enel so he couldn’t get away before using a powerful impact dial, one that was thought to be long gone, a Reject Dial. 

They both fell back, Wyper unconscious, and Enel dead . . . or at least they thought so for a moment, then his body crackled with electricity before sitting up. Suddenly, Zoro attacked him. Lucy didn’t know what the stupid swordsman was thinking, but she knew what was coming and moved to stop it. 

“Zoro!” Lucy shouted as she jumped in front of him, just in time to take the blast of lightning that had been directed at Zoro.   
Zoro stared wide eyed at her. She had just jumped in the path of Enel’s lightning to protect him and he couldn’t believe his own eyes when Lucy groaned in pain and began to stand back up. Enel didn’t to believe it either. 

“Don’t . . . You dare . . . Hurt . . . My friends . . . Again.” she told him panting from the effort of standing . . . right before Enel hit her with a second blast of lightning, causing her to lose consciousness.


	7. Celebrations and New Friends

Lucy was still unconscious when Zoro, Wyper, and Gan Fall woke up. Zoro looked at Lucy. Even while she was unconscious, her brows were creased with worry. Nami told them that they needed to get to the Going Merry before getting on her waver to get Luffy. While she was doing that, Zoro watched Lucy, thinking about her. 

‘She got in the way of Enel’s lightning to protect me, then she stood up again! 2 hits . . . she took two hits from that guy’s lightning before going down . . . the rest of us only took one hit. Just how strong is she? And how strong are her friends if she thinks that she’s weak?’ he thought to himself.

He was pulled from his thoughts of questioning just how strong Lucy was when Wyper began retelling a story he’d been told about Montblanc Norland when he’d come to the island of Jaya. Up on the beanstalk, Zoro could see that Nami had caught up with Luffy. The three men at the base of the beanstalk watched in horror as a mass of lightning formed and struck down on Angel Island, completely destroying it. Thankfully, Conis had warned them in time and everyone had managed evacuate the island before the attack hit.

Then an even larger mass of lightning began forming.

• • •

Ever been electrocuted and knocked unconscious, then electrocuted two more times after being swallowed by, and escaping, a snake before falling unconscious again? Then you wake up to see a giant mass of lightning forming above your head! Lucy was getting really sick and tired of lightning, so much so that she might punch Laxus the next time she saw him . . . she probably wouldn’t, but she could still do it mentally.

Nami sent down some orders to start cutting down the beanstalk on a specific side so that it would fall on Enel. Zoro, taking it as his cue, and began to hack at the beanstalk with his swords, but he wasn’t making much progress. Upon hearing the Luffy wanted to ring the bell, just as the Shandian’s did, Wyper used his reject dial once again, knocking over the beanstalk before falling unconscious again. Up on the beanstalk, Nami was using her waver to help Luffy get up to Enel. From the looks of it, he needed all the help he could get, given the giant ball of gold attached to his hand. 

Or at least Nami was using her waver to help Luffy get up the beanstalk until he pushed her off onto some clouds, continuing on up the beanstalk on his own . . . though not very well. The waver veered off course and sent him flying into the mass of lightning. It seemed to swirl around him as it was attracted to the large golden ball attached to his arm as he swung it around, eventually breaking apart the mass of lighting before disappearing from sight on the top cloud.

Everyone kept their eyes to the sky even though they couldn’t see anything. After a some amount of minutes passed, the sound of a beautiful, clear bell rang throughout the entire sky and even down to the sea below. The saw the shadow of Luffy’s victorious pose on the clouds and they all smiled. The Straw Hats didn’t realize it at the time, but the bell also meant that the war between the Shandians and the Skypieans was over.

• • •

That night, all the warriors and even the snake had been patched up, all of them apparently much more peaceful now that the bell had been rung. The Shandians and Skypieans were all celebrating along with the Straw Hats. Lucy was laughing and joining in the celebrations, though she wondered how all her injured comrades could manage to be so boisterous so soon after a battle, though she supposed she came from a group of people that partied as long as there was an unbroken bone in their body. They partied to the point of exhaustion and passed out on the ground. On a side note, Usopp had traded some rubber bands for dials.

The next morning, the Skypieans, Shandians, and Robin where gone, and the Straw hats took this as an opportunity to explore the ruins and grab the treasures that were inside the snake. Lucy was exactly keen on going back inside the snake, but everyone else was going inside and Lucy didn’t want to be all by herself next to the sleeping snake, not when she could be with her friends. 

It was a good thing she had come with though, because while she was helping the others fill up bags with various gold treasures, Zoro had found some sort of box. His eyebrows shot up when he saw the contents. The contents were somewhat familiar as well.

“Hey Lucy! Come over here!” he shouted over to her. 

Sighing, Lucy came over to him. She put her hands on her hips as she scolded him lightly. “You could have asked a bit more nicely you know.”

“Damn you Marimo! Are you being rude to Lucy-swan you bastard?!”Sanji piped up.

“Shut you up you shitty cook! I’m trying to show her something, moron!” Zoro shouted.

Sanji came over. “What did you say to me, you damned Marimo!?” he growled. 

Zoro got in his face. “You heard me, you pervert cook!”

Annoyed, Lucy hit them both on their heads, leaving decent sized welts. Perhaps Erza had rubbed off on her a little, but either way, it was far too early in the morning to listen to those two bone heads arguing. “Now, what did you want to show me Zoro?” Lucy asked him, ignoring Sanji as he talked about how sexy she was even when she was angry.

Grumbling, Zoro showed her the contents of the box. “Can you use these?” he asked.

Lucy gasped, looking like a kid who had just received more candy than they knew what to do with. “Oh my god! These were thought to be lost forever!” she exclaimed, taking the box.

“I’m guessing that’s yes the-!” Zoro cut off as he was briefly hugged by an enthusiastic Lucy. A hint of red showed on his cheeks.

Sanji didn’t seem to like that and started raging at Zoro, getting into another argument with the green haired swordsman, but Lucy was so happy with the contents of the chest, she didn’t care. When they came out of the still sleeping snake, carrying variously sized sacks of gold and Lucy carrying the box Zoro found. Then things went back to chaotic when they thought they saw the Shandians and Skypieans pushing a giant cannon towards them and they all ran, thinking they were mad for stealing the gold. Robin followed them with that knowing smile of hers.

It wasn’t until later that Lucy questioned whether they’d actually had a cannon or not. They all boarded the Going Merry, and Conis and Pagaya lead them to Cloud End, which would take them to the Blue Sea. Lucy took this time to take a look at the contents of the box Zoro had found. Her eyes sparkled as she looked at the seven, polished obsidian keys. In her world, these keys had mysteriously disappeared a long, long time ago. How they had shown up here was anyone’s guess. Next to nothing was known about these keys as they were lost long ago, but Lucy wasn’t going to let that stop her.

Taking the first key, the chant automatically came to her. “Open, Gate of the Eagle! I summon thee, Aquila!” she called.   
There was a flash of golden light in the shape of a bird with its wings spread accompanied by the cry of an eagle. When it faded there was a man standing in front of her. Conis and her father were shocked, Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper were absolutely amazed with her magic, Robin, Zoro, and Nami were still a little impressed by her magic, and Sanji was gushing over Lucy’s abilities because that was just what he did. 

The spirit Lucy had summoned, Aquila, was dark skinned and stood at around six foot two. His body was leanly built but his body was toned. He looked to be around 20, maybe 25 years old. Aquila’s face was wind beaten. He had sharp, golden eyes and he had the beak of a bird of prey in place of a nose and mouth, his face was all sharp angles. His hair was snow white and was slicked back against his head, bits of hair sticking up here and there, almost making it look like he had a head of feathers.

For his clothes we was wearing a dark brown leather aviator jacket over a light brown t-shirt and brown leather pants fastened with a black leather belt. Wrapped around his neck was a white scarf and his pants were tucked into black combat boots. Resting on the top of his head, held on by an elastic strap, were bronze framed goggles. The way he stood was straight as an arrow and he had dark brown wings sprouting from his back.

Aquila saluted Lucy. “Aquila, reporting for duty.” he said. “So you’re my new key bearer. It’s been awhile since anyone’s possessed my key. You are Lucy Heartfilia, is that correct?” The way he spoke was sharp and direct.

“I . . . yes.” said Lucy. “But how did you know who I am.”

Aquila’s answer was immediate. “You are famous in the Celestial Realm, your love and kindness for your spirits can be felt by every spirit. There’s hardly a spirit that hasn’t heard of you, and let me just say, I would be honored to serve you in battle.”

Lucy felt really happy, and an a bit embarrassed. Was she really that famous among the spirits in the Celestial Realm? “Well then, would you like to make a contract with me?” Lucy asked Aquila. 

“It would be an honor ma’am.” Aquila responded.

After forming a contract with the eagle spirit, Lucy dismissed him. The obsidian gatekeys were rumored to be just as strong as the celestial keys, if not stronger. Lucy could believe that, judging by the amount of magic it had taken to summon them, which was almost equivalent to what a golden gatekey took. She might not be able to summon all of them in one sitting to form a contract. Still, she grabbed the next key from the box.

Once again, the chant came naturally to her. “Open, Gate of the Hare! I summon thee, Lepus!”

There was flash of golden light and it faded to reveal a twitching and shaking girl who looked around 8 or 9. She had silky soft white hair that stop a couple inches from her shoulders and is braided on either side of her head in the front. Sticking out the top of her head she had long white bunny ears. Her eyes were red and wide in a way that always made her look scared. She was wearing a pink, frilly dress that has lots of bows and ribbons with matching knee socks and flats. The skirt of her dress went to just below her knees.

Lepus fidgeted nervously. “H-h-h-h-hello Lu-Lucy-sa-sama.” she said with a horrible stutter.

It took a long time to make a contract with Lepus, she had such a bad stutter, which Lucy soon found out was just part of her personality, and it had nothing to do with her. Lepus was just naturally shy and nervous. Since Lepus’s gate had been open for a while, Lucy was starting to feel a bit drained. She grabbed the next key.

“Open, Gate of the Wolf! I summon thee, Lupus!” she called out. 

Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp waited excitedly, eager for each and every spirit that she summoned. There was a silver light in the shape of a wolf. It howled before turning into a man. Lupus was a little taller than Aquila, standing at about six foot four. He was muscular in the way someone who works construction might be and he looked like he was in his late thirties. He had a grey beard and mustache as well as thick sideburns that stretched all the way to his chin. His dark blue eyes were stern and narrow, and his shaggy grey hair went almost to his shoulders. Where his ears should have been, grey wolf ears were sticking out from his head. He had wrinkles on his face that suggested was always frowning. 

His posture was informal, shoulders slack and chin lowered, making him look pretty thuggish. The scowl did help any. His scowling lips revealed sharp, wolf-like canines. He wore a white button up shirt with a grey undershirt that could be seen through the opened front of the shirt. To complete his look he wore black leather pants over boots of the same material.

“What do you want brat?” he asked rudely. 

Lucy wasn’t even surprised. She’d been in Fairy Tail and had seen all types of people, not to mention how strange and varied her own spirits were. She welcomed and loved all her spirits and was always willing to forgive them for their oddities. 

“I’m Lucy Heartfilia, and I’d like to ask if you’d like to make a contract with me.” she asked, smiling happily as she ignored Sanji, who was ranting and raving at the spirit who dared be so rude to his Lucy-swan.

Lupus hummed thoughtfully, thought it sounded oddly like growl. “Sure, do whatever you want.”

By the time finished with making a contract with Lupus, she was feeling considerably more tired, mainly because he kept giving her unspecific answers. So by the time she’d finished making the contract and dismissed the spirit, she was exhausted from summoning three of the seven spirits, and keeping their gates open to make the contracts, two of which took far longer than they should have. Lucy put the gatekeys for her newly contacted spirits on her key ring, leaving the other four keys in the box for later summoning and contracting. 

She picked up the box and told the crew that she was going to take a nap. With that, she went into the room she, Nami, and Robin shared, putting the box with her small collection of personal effects, each girl had their own little designated area for their belongings, and went to sleep in her bed. Not long after she did this, the Going Merry reached Cloud End and then, with only a balloon octopus to save them, the ship plummeted down to the Blue Sea.


	8. Closet Encounter

When Lucy woke up, she decided to finish making contracts with the other four spirits. She grabbed the box and place it on her bed because she didn’t want all the others distracting her or her spirits while she was making the contracts. Lucy liked them and all, but they could definitely be . . . excitable.

Grabbing the fourth key, she called out, “Open! Gate of the Telescope! I summon thee, Telescopium!”

After the light faded, Lucy was facing a telescope. Though she wasn’t sure what she was expected when she summoned this spirit, she certainly was expecting Telescopium to literally be a 5 foot telescope with stick arms and legs. His body had three segments, the largest, which was also the lowest segment, made up the majority of his body. His stick arms stuck out from the middle of the bottom segment, and his legs came out from the edge of the bottom segment. The other two segments stuck up out of the top of the main part of his body. Telescopium’s eyes and mouth were both just lines on the largest segment. If he had a nose, Lucy couldn’t see it.

Telescopium bowed, which looked positively ridiculous with the other two segments of his head sticking up. “You summoned me, Lucy-sama?” he asked in a clear, formal tone. He straightened. “How might I be of assistance?”

Telescopium’s mannerisms and speech reminded Lucy of a stereotypical butler. It made her slightly uncomfortable as it kind of brought back memories of the time when she used to be an heiress. She asked him the same thing she’d asked the other 3 spirits. He agreed to be her spirit and they formed a contract. The process went smoothly, unlike the other two nightmares. With that finished, she closed Telescopium’s gate and grabbed the next key.

“Open! Gate of the Fire Bird! I summon thee, Phoenix!” Lucy called out.

A bright flame appeared before turning into a teenage boy. He looked about 15 but his large and joyful eyes combined with his playful smile made him seem even younger. His hair was red with a slight tint of orange to it and was slicked back, though long enough that he was able to put it back in a four inch ponytail. Phoenix’s eyes were a beautiful sunburnt orange. He wore a gold patterned mandarin collar jacket with a red background, loose red shorts that ended below the knee with orange and yellow flame patterns on the hems. A pair of gold colored flip flops finished the look.

“Wah!” Phoenix said excitedly. “Amazing!! I haven’t had a key bearer in . . . well, a really long time!” he said with a happy grin. “You summoned me, so that means we’re going to be friends right?!”

It took Lucy a second to adjust from the shift of tone and personality between Telescopium and Phoenix. “Uh . . . Yeah. I mean of course it does! So . . . would you like to form a contract with me?” she asked him.

Phoenix nodded eagerly. “Of course! That means we’re officially friends!”

Lucy assumed that Phoenix’s contract wouldn’t take that long because he was very eager, unfortunately, it meant quite the opposite. Every time Lucy managed to get his attention, she could only keep it for about 5 seconds before he was either distracted by something in the room, or sidetracked the conversation to something else that was usually completely irrelevant or unrelated. Finally, with only a thread of her temper and sanity intact, Lucy finished making the contract and dismissed him in favor of grabbing the sixth key.

“Open! Gate of the Shield! I summon thee, Scutum!” she chanted.

This summoning appeared as a gold ball spreading out into a warped disk. Scutum looked like a round golden shield with arms and legs. He was approximately 3 feet tall. His face was in the center of the back of the shield, where the straps would have been, and his lips were set in a scowl, his beady blue eyes were narrowed, and his eyebrows, which looked like they were drawn on with a thick black marker, were furrowed, all together giving him a grumpy old man face. His arms were barely more than sticks, but his legs were thick and powerful.

When he spoke, his voice was rough and stern, reaffirming the whole grumpy old man thing. “The hell do you want?”

Lucy ignored his behavior, seeing Scutum as little different than Gajeel. Like all the previous spirits, he agreed to form a contract with her. At the very least the shield spirit gave her straight answers, Lucy was extremely thankful for that. Finally, after dismissing Scutum and attaching his key to her keychain with the other five obsidian keys, Lucy grabbed the seventh and final key.

“Open! Gate of the Fox! I summon thee, Vulpecula!” 

This time there was a bright red light that formed into a fox before it faded to reveal a woman who appeared to be in her late teens, around two to three years older than Lucy. She had straight, long, red hair that was back in a ponytail. Some of it was allowed to hang loose on either side of her head and her bangs were brushed aside so they were out of her face. If her hair was down, it would have been able to reach down to the back of her knees. On the top of her head were large fox ears, replacing human ears, and were the same color of her hair. Her eyes were a honey brown color and were partially closed, making her look like she was planning something. The smirk didn’t help matters in that area much. Vulpecula was wearing a plain, forest green kimono that ended end at mid-thigh and tied a brown oba. 

Vulpecula wasn’t saying anything, merely looking Lucy up and down. “Hi! I’m Lucy, would you like to-!?” Lucy cut off as Vulpecula suddenly groped her chest. “HIEEEE!”

She smirked and chuckled, removing her hands before Lucy could swat them away. “My my, you’re a big one. It’s been awhile since I’ve had a female key bearer. You’re a pretty one too . . . “ Vulpecula said thoughtfully. “Fufufu, I bet you have men just flocking to your doorstep.” 

Lucy covered her chest were her arms, blushing profusely. Seriously, first Cana, now one of her own spirits! “U-um, no . . . n-not really.” she said. 

That didn’t seem to sit well with Vulpecula, who looked very disappointed. “Oh? Well that’s odd. Anyway, you wanted to form a contract with me right? So, hop to it.” she said.

After the first few questions, Lucy relaxed. Each question was given a careless, but none-the-less straightforward, answer. Finishing, Lucy dismissed Vulpecula, attaching her key to her keychain before head out to the deck of the Going Merry. It was there that she found, much to her horror, their ship was falling towards the sea below . . . and that the only thing saving them from plummeting to their dooms was a giant inflated octopus. She could practically feel the soul leaving her body.

“Good morning Lucy-swan!” Sanji sing-songed when he saw her awake and out on deck.

“It’s nighttime dumbass. “ said Zoro, not missing the chance to correct the Love Cook. It was true, it appeared that Lucy had slept all day and that it was already nighttime.

“ . . . Why are we falling?!” Lucy exclaimed. 

“It’s the only way back down to the Grandline. The only safe way anyway.” Robin answered. 

Lucy supposed that made sense, they had been in the clouds of course. She was thankful that they seemed to be falling at a relatively safe pace. That must be because of the balloon octopus . . . Hey, she was a Fairy Tail mage, so it wouldn’t exactly be the most surprising thing that she’d seen. It certainly wasn’t the strangest thing she’d seen since arriving in this world. Sighing, Lucy glanced over to the side of the ship to check if she could see anything below. It was then that she saw several lights below them.

Normally this wouldn’t concern her, but some of the lights were spotlights. Now this wouldn’t normally concern her either, but since she was now a pirate, a fact and a label that she still found strange, the spotlights gave her a really bad feeling.

Her feelings were unfortunately confirmed when the balloon octopus suddenly deflated. There was a brief moment when the entire crew stared at each other in horror and/or shock before the ship plummeted down to the sea. Everyone screamed as the ship fell, Ussop, Nami, and Chopper more than others.

Thinking fast, Lucy grabbed the Ram Gatekey. “Open! Gate of the Ram! I summon thee, Aries!” she shouted. 

“Please forgive me Lucy-sama, we’re falling!” Aries squeaked shyly when she appeared. 

“Mellorine!” Sanji shouted, hearts in his eyes.

“SO COOOL!” Luffy shouted. Lucy had a feeling Chopper and Usopp would be doing the same if they weren’t screaming for their lives.

“I know! Aries, can you create a cushion for the Going Merry!? We don’t know how much damage he can take!” Lucy shouted over the sound of everyone screaming and the wind rushing by.

“I-I’ll do my best! Lucy-sama!” Aries declared. “Wool Cushion!” 

A large, thick layer of pink wool appeared on the ocean below the Going Merry. The wool safely and effectively broke the ship’s fall before disappearing with a poof and letting the ship drop a short distance into the water, and the ship was left none the worse. That wasn’t the bad part though. The Going Merry had made a loud splash noise when it fell into the water, and now all of the spotlights Lucy had seen were now focused on the Going Merry. They had landed right in the middle of a Marine Base.

Someone told them to stay where they were, but everyone on the crew took one look at each other and split, abandoning ship so they wouldn’t be caught. They could always get the ship back. Lucy had dismissed Aries and jumped into the sea, swimming to shore.

Gasping and a little tired from the swim, she groaned as dragged herself ashore and realized her clothes were wet. Lucy was about to summon Virgo and ask her for some dry clothes, but she realized she was at a naval base, so it would probably be best to try to blend in. That being said, she managed to find a Marine uniform that fit her . . . generous figure, and began looking around for the others. 

Thankfully no one questioned her, though she did spot a few of the younger marines ogling her, they quickly scampered off when she spotted them. Then she started down a hallway that had a lot of doors leading to other places on the base. She was about choose a door when she spotted a familiar head of green hair. Zoro, apparently not noticing her, choose another door to go through . . . then came back a few minutes later through another door. Lucy, unbelieving of just how bad the swordsman’s sense of direction was, watched him do this for about 20 minutes before finally grabbing his hand and taking him through a door of her choosing. 

“Oi oi, what are you doing?” asked the annoyed swordsman. 

“Doing the favor. If I left you alone you’d probably would have kept on going in circles for hours, as bad as your sense of direction is.” said the irritated mage.

A nerve in Zoro’s temple twitched. “My sense of direction is just fine! And I wasn’t going around in circles! The base kept turning around on me!”

Lucy gave a him a look that told him she wasn’t buying it. “Sure, because inanimate, not to mention solid, walls can just move around to confuse you.” she said as she kept walking. “And why aren’t you at least wearing a disguise?”

“I don’t need a disguise.” Zoro grunted. 

“You need one if you don’t want to get caught!” Lucy shouted at him.

Zoro opened his mouth to retort, but Lucy stiffened as she heard the voices of some marines that had heard her shouting, then the sound of footsteps telling her they were coming to investigate. Blood draining from her face, Lucy clamped her hand over Zoro’s mouth and pulled him into the nearest unlocked room.

Barely daring to breath, she listened to the marines as they walked down the hallway, keeping her hand over Zoro’s mouth. After the footsteps passed the room they were in and proceeded down the hallway, Lucy let out a sigh of relief and finally removed her hand from Zoro’s mouth.

“ . . . What exactly do you think you’re doing?” he asked. His voice was at a normal volume, but to Lucy it was almost as if he was shouting, given the situation.

“Shh!” Lucy hissed. “Don’t talk so loud! You’re going to get us caught!” she whispered.

“By who?” Zoro asked, lowering his voice to a whisper all the same. “They’ve already gone past us and this is . . . a little uncomfortable.” he pointed out.

Lucy wondered what he was talking about until she noticed that things did seem a little . . . cramped. The room Lucy had dragged him into wasn’t it a room . . . it was a closet for cleaning supplies, and not even a very big closet. She hadn’t noticed because she’d been pressing against him in an instinct to make themselves as less noticeable as possible, but now that she wanted to put as much distance between them in this tiny space as possible, there wasn’t much room to do anything else.

The mage found herself blushing furiously at the situation she’d gotten them into, and she was thankful Zoro couldn’t see her face in the dark. Unknown to her, Zoro’s cheeks had their own pink tint to them. “S-sorry, I’ll open the door.”

“ . . . That’d be a start.” he said.

There was the sound of the handle being jiggled as Lucy tried the door. “Uh Zoro? . . . It’s locked.” she said, the mortification she felt clear in her voice.

“What? That’s bullshit! Let me try!” said Zoro, reaching for the handle himself. 

He gave the handle a firm jiggle, but it barely budged. Refusing to be stuck in this suggestive, not to mention embarrassing position, he turned the handle so hard it snapped off. Before the more cautious Lucy could yell at him or stop him from what he was going to do next, he punched the door down and slipped past Lucy into the hallway.

“Zoro you idiot! Someone might have heard that!” Lucy shouted at him.

He stretched carelessly. “So? I got us out didn’t I?” 

Annnnnd that’s when Lucy heard the sounds of rifles being raised. “Why does this stuff always have to happen to me?” 

• • •

To make a long story short, Zoro and Lucy both ended up in jail with Usopp, who already there when they got there. Then a marine had been thrown in there with them, Zoro pretended he was part of the crew as the other marines had assumed, then head butted him unconscious so he’d shut up. Zoro had even come up with a name for this “crewmate”, and it made Lucy wonder if Zoro wasn’t more clever than he let on. Anyways, after that fiasco, Lucy and Sanji came to rescue them . . . unsuccessfully. 

So then Luffy and Sanji were thrown in with them, but fortunately they were able to escape with the use of the dials Usopp had gotten from Skypiea . . . we’re just not going to mention the scent dial that was filled with . . . yeah. Anyway, Lucy managed to get back her confiscated keys, and Zoro got his swords back. They managed to make it to a bridge where they were absolutely swarmed by marines.

They ended up falling down into the ocean because Luffy ended up destroying the bridge . . . okay, Lucy’s spirits helped with that too. Deciding that their best bet would be to get to the ship, they began heading for the docks where the Merry was at, according to Usopp. Unfortunately, when they got to the dock, there was an ambush waiting for them. Luffy got trapped under a seastone net, but Nami and Chopper showed up with a doctor, whose name was Kobato. Kobato volunteered to be used at a hostage in order to thank Chopper, and because of that they were able to get onto the Going Merry.

They sailed out into the bay, the marines letting them go even after one of them grabbed the doctor. Robin showed up later and gave them a map of the base, and they decided to hide the ship in an abandoned dock while they formulate a plan to get their treasure back. Usopp took it a step further and used the junk in the abandoned dock to disguise the Going Merry as a marine ship. They split up into two teams, one would go with Nami to retrieve her waver, and the other to take back the treasure. Chopper was left behind to guard the ship.

Lucy, Zoro, Luffy, Robin, and Usopp were ambushed in the area the treasure was supposed to be in. However, they were saved when the same marine they had been thrown in jail with opened the doors foolishly and let them escape. When they made it back to the ship, Nami had been successful in retrieving her Waver but was disappointed when she found they hadn’t found the treasure. Figuring it must be in the base commander’s office, she took Luffy with her to get it.

Surprisingly, they were actually able to make it back with the treasure and so they made their escape. Until they got stuck one the reefs that were at the entrance to the bay the marine base was nestled in. The marines started making their way towards the ship, then Luffy revealed he still had the balloon octopus, which had been stuffed in his pants for some ungodly reason Lucy really didn’t want to know, so with Usopp’s help, they were able to formulate a plan to escape. Using a combination of dials, they managed to blast the ship into the air, and used the balloon octopus to “fly” safely away from the marine base.

During that time, Zoro found himself staring at his hand, remembering how warm and soft Lucy’s hands had been. He hadn’t noticed it before while she was dragging him through a maze of hallways, but he now he could definitely remember the slight warmth that had spread through him from their joined hands. It was a very strange feeling for him.


	9. Training With Zoro

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Fairy Tail or One Piece. 
> 
> Please enjoy and leave a review.

It was a day after the events of the G8 marine base and Lucy was leaning against the railing of the ship, thinking about the “closet incident”, as she had coined it in her mind. Her heart sped up a little bit and her cheeks turned pink as she remembered how snuggly her body had fit against Zoro’s, like two pieces of a puzzle. And she’d be lying if she said she’d hated it, it was the opposite in fact. She had kind of liked the feeling and it had made her heart flutter.

Blushing, she looked over at the green haired swordsman, who was currently sleeping against the mast. ‘Well . . . he’s definitely handsome . . . wait no! Bad thoughts Lucy! Bad thoughts!’ she mentally berated herself as she smacked her cheeks. Lucy turned back to the ocean to clear her head.

Robin, who had been watching all of this from over her history book, chuckled. Nami, who was lounging next to her, looked over. “What is it Robin?”

She chuckled. “Oh nothing, though it appears that Mage-san is starting to have feelings for a certain swordsman.”

Blinking, Nami looked from Robin, to Zoro and Lucy, back to Robin, then Zoro and Lucy, and then back to Robin. “Lucy?! With Zoro?!” she exclaimed.

The historian nodded. Now that Nami thought about it, they had been spending a lot of time together, she’d thought that was a given since they were all on the same ship together, but they seemed to spend a lot of time together on land too. Then there was the blush that Lucy currently had adorning her cheeks after she had looked at Zoro. Nami smiled evilly. 

“It doesn’t appear that Swordsman-san shares the sentiment though.” said Robin. 

Nami smiled evilly at Zoro. “Perhaps we should rectify that situation.” she said, eyes turning into belli signs as she thought about how much she would be able to justifiably raise Zoro’s debt if they managed to get them together. Then there was how much she could charge Lucy.

Robin smiled in that mysterious way of hers. “Perhaps we shall Navigator-san. After all, us women have to look out for each other when it comes to love. Isn’t that right?”

“Of course!” Nami declared. 

Usopp, having overheard the last part of the conversation, looked over at the two women in confusion. “What are they talking about?” 

His thoughts were cut short as Luffy barreled into him and ran away, shouting, “Tag! You’re it Usopp!”

• • •

After Nami reminded Zoro that he agreed to train Lucy, he decided that he should probably train her a little before they got to the next island. He looked over at her. If he was honest, he had been avoiding her since they left G8, as much as one could when they were stuck on a ship together. That incident in the closet had been . . . he couldn’t say unpleasant, nor could he say it was uncomfortable. It was quite the opposite in fact, the position he had been in with Lucy had been too comfortable.

Zoro stiffened and his cheeks tinted a light pink as he remembered how perfectly her body had melded against his. It had just felt . . . right. The feeling had made his heart thud against his chest and he had to resist the urge to wrap his arms around her . . . Zoro mentally punched himself to get rid of the memory. He also realized he had been staring at Lucy’s back for some time now. Steeling himself, he went over and tapped her on the shoulder.

• • •

Lucy turned when she felt someone tap her shoulder and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw Zoro standing there behind her. “Z-Z-Zoro! Wh-what are you doing here?!” she exclaimed. She almost facepalmed at her own stupid question. He lived on the fricken ship, just like the rest of them!

Zoro rolled his eyes at her. “I promised I’d train you, remember?” he said. 

How was he being so calm about this? Did he really not care, or was he just that not interested in her? The thought of the second prospect made her feel a little bit disappointed and sad. She mentally shook herself out of it. Of course he wouldn’t think anything of it, and neither should she. If she thought about it rationally, they were just two people who hid in a small space, that’s it. Nothing more to it right? Though that’s what she told herself, it was still super embarrassing.

“Y-yeah, I remember.” she said.

“I figured I should start training you before we get to the next island.” said Zoro. “I’m going to assume you have time now?”

Lucy blinked at him. “Uh . . . yeah I suppose.”

Zoro gave a her a curt nod and headed to the center of the deck, which was thankfully clear from any crewmembers that might barrel into either of them or interrupt them during training. Hopefully Sanji didn’t get out of the kitchen until they were done, otherwise he would probably freak out. Lucy had seen how he got when he thought Zoro or anyone else was being rude to Lucy or the other women on the ship.

Lucy and Zoro stood across from one another. Deciding to easy on her a little, he only drew one of his swords. Lucy took out her whip and snapped it, getting ready to fight. 

Zoro shook his head. “No.” When Lucy gave him a confused look, he elaborated. “Use the other one. You know, the one you used to catch the southbird.”

Lucy’s face made and ‘oh’ expression as she understood what he wanted now. She rolled up her regular whip and reattached it to her belt before grabbing the whip that Virgo had given her. Zoro smirked and took a stance, readying his sword as he waited for the blonde mage to attack. 

After a few moment of him just standing there, Lucy figured out that he wanted her to make the first move, and so she did. 

“Fleuve d’etoiles!” she called out, activating the magical whip as she attacked him. 

• • •

Lucy collapsed in exhaustion. Zoro had pushed her and pushed until she could barely move, and then pushed her some more. The blonde mage couldn’t move a muscle and she felt like she could just close her eyes and fall asleep, then stay that way for days. Zoro had barely broken a sweat. Her breathing slowed and she felt her eyelids fighting her to close so she could sleep away into sweet slumber. Neither Zoro or Lucy knew this, but during the span of their training session, Robin and Nami had kept the others, especially Sanji, distracted.

“Oi, oi! Don’t fall asleep on the deck!” said Zoro, sheathing his sword. “Go to your bed if you’re going to sleep!”

Lucy managed to force one eye open to look at him. “Can’t. I can’t move my body because someone’s an idiot and doesn’t know when to stop.” she informed him. She might have started shouting at him, but all she could manage at this point was a tired murmur. “If you want me to sleep in a bed that badly, then you can carry me.” said Lucy, allowing her eyes to close again. She fell asleep nearly instantly. 

“Hah?! Like I’d carry you.” Zoro informed her, unaware that she was already dead asleep.

Finally, Sanji was get his two belli in. “I’ll happily carry you to your room Lucy-swan!” he said with hearts in his eyes, also unaware that Lucy was already asleep. 

Zoro scowled at the cook. “There’s no fucking way I’m going to let a pervert like you carry her, who knows what the hell you might decide to do.”

“What was that you damned moss-head?!” Sanji shouted. “What are you trying to say, huh?!”

“I’m saying you’re a pervert dumbass!” Zoro shouted back. 

Robin smiled. “If you’re that concerned, Swordsman-san, then why don’t you carry Mage-san to her room?” she suggested. 

“Fine, I will!” Zoro shouted automatically. Then he froze. ‘Wait what? What did I just agree to do?’

“WHAT?! Absolutely not!” Sanji exclaimed immediately. “There’s no way I’d let a barbarian like you touch such a delicate and beautiful flower! You’d probably carry her like a sack of potatoes!” 

Sanji was really starting to get on Zoro’s nerves, more than usual, though he hadn’t been wrong, he probably would have carried her like a sack of potatoes. Nami piped up. “Sanji, since Zoro said he’d carry Lucy to her room, he should be the one to do it, unless he wants to go back on his word.” she said, looking at Zoro pointedly.

The green haired swordsman clenched his teeth since the witch was right. He’d already said he’d do it, and if he didn’t, then that would mean he went back on his word. He glared at Sanji before crouching and scooping up Lucy in his arm, carrying her princess style just to prove that damned cook wrong, then carried her to the room she shared with Robin and Nami. Since he was out of sight of the others, he dropped Lucy unceremoniously onto her bed . . . at least he assumed it was hers. He turned to leave when he heard her whimper slightly in her sleep, and turned back to see her curling into a ball with a slight frown. 

Zoro stood there for a moment in indecision before groaning and muttering a “Dammit” before walking back over to her an putting the covers over her. He spotted a small lock of her golden hair was in her mouth. Before he could think about what he was doing and stop himself, he reached over and brushed the loose lock of hair back. He froze once he realized what he was doing and then tore out of the room like a bat out of hell.

Robin and Nami smirked when they saw Zoro tear out of the girls’ room. “Well, Navigator-san, it seems like our plan will work out well.” Robin said with a chuckle.


	10. Aokiji, The Man of Ice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Fairy Tail.
> 
> Please enjoy and leave a review.

One their way to Water 7, they came across another island. They all went deeper into the island, strolling through the forest. As they walked along a path, a few of them, including Lucy, noticed an odd, thin rut in the ground that seemed to have made by a bicycle. Then, suddenly, the forest ended and they entered a clearing. In the center of the clearing appeared to be a larger rock, with what Luffy thought to be a large, black mushroom. When the crew went around the rock however, the “mushroom” was revealed to be a very tall man with and afro . . . who appeared to be sleeping, though that didn’t last long. 

The most surprising thing though, was Robin’s reaction to the man. The woman, who was normally so composed, fell back and stared at the man with terror on her face. Immediately, the crew was on the defensive. As they would soon find out from Robin, the man was one of the powerhouses of the Navy. A Marine Admiral by the name of Aokiji, a position held only by three people, and was the second highest rank in the Navy. Lucy couldn’t believe it. The man was too laid back, but even she could sense his power, this guy was definitely strong.

That being said, she was extremely thankful when he said that he had no intention of capturing them, since he hadn’t been ordered to do so, and was just checking up on Nico Robin’s location, which he would have to report back to headquarters. By this point in time he had laid down, and that’s when 10 people came out into the clearing, 7 men, 2 children, and a woman. They had been shipwrecked on the island after the cruise liner they were on crashed into a frog doing the crawl stroke and broke. They had been there for a month. 

After Sanji and Usopp brought food from the ship to feed them, and Chopper treated their injuries, Aokiji told the survivors that there was a nearby island that he can help them get to. So, after loading the group up with supplies, they went to the shore of the island that was facing directly at the nearby island. Aokiji then knelt at the edge of the water, dipping his hand into the sea and a Sea King burst from the water and went for the tall marine. Lucy, Zoro, and Luffy were about to aid the man, but then the sea froze as far as their eyes could see, even the Sea King was turned into a popsicle.

Lucy stared in shock. Gray was the most powerful Ice Mage she knew, and even he was capable of freezing that much ocean, and what was more was that the marine didn’t even seem worn out even a little bit! She was even more glad now that he had decided not to attack them. They sent the survivors on their way, and that’s when the real bombshell was dropped. 

“Ara ara, I really should just kill you right now.” Aokiji said in a lazy tone.

“What?! But you said you were going to let us go!” Lucy exclaimed. 

“When I look at the progress your small group has made . . . you’ll become really troublesome in the future, it’d be better if I just dealt with you now. The reason . . . is that Nico Robin has joined you. Her bounty isn’t just a reflection of her strength, but of her threat to the World Government, that why, at the age of eight, she was given a bounty of 79,000,000 beli. Frankly, I’m surprised you survived as a child.” he said. “Of course you survived by betraying everyone who has taken you in.”

“Oi, oi!” Sanji protested. “Just what do you think you’re saying about Robin-swan?!”

“Yeah!” Chopper chimed in. “Robin’s our friend, we won’t just let you bad mouth her like that. 

The rest of the crew seemed agree with the sentiment.

Aokiji seemed slightly impressed by their loyalty to their crewmate. “You did well befriending this group. But I can guarantee that you’ll regret taking in such a person. I can prove this. All the organizations that Nico Robin has joined have been completely annihilated . . . except for her.”

“Who the hell cares about her past!?” Luffy exclaimed. “Her past doesn’t matter! She’s our friend now!”

“In time, she’ll betray you too.” Aokiji said. 

Finally, it seemed that Robin had had enough. Much to the chagrin of Usopp, Robin sprouted her arms to grab Aokiji and forced his body to bend backwards until it shattered into shards of ice. Lucy gasped in shock, thinking the marine dead, but the shock was quickly replaced with terror as Aokiji began reforming out of the ice shards, completely unharmed. The others watched in fear as well.

“Now, that wasn’t very nice.” stated Aokiji leisurely as he stood.

The Marine Admiral grabbed a handful of grass and threw it before blowing on it, freezing the grass to form a blade of ice. Using that ice sword, he attacked Robin. Lucy had been about to call out to her, but Zoro and Sanji were already moving. Zoro blocked the blade of ice and he was quickly followed by Sanji, who kicked the ice sword out of the marine’s hands, then Luffy who rushed at the Admiral and punched him in the stomach. Aokiji placed a hand on Zoro’s shoulder and Sanji’s knee, and all three of the crew’s main fighters fall back with shouts of pain, the parts of their bodies that had come in contact with the marine being covered in ice.

Angry and needing to do something, Lucy grabbed one of her new keys. “Open, Gate of the Fire Bird! I summon thee, Phoenix!” she called, summoning the hyper spirit. 

It would be too late however. Aokiji wrapped his arms around Robin and soon the woman’s entire body was encased in ice. 

“ROBIN!!!” the Straw Hat pirates cried out.

“She’s not dead. She might live if you thaw her out carefully, but her body is extremely fragile like this. If it were to break, she’d die.” said Aokiji, going to punch Robin’s frozen form.

Two things happened at once then. Luffy ran forward and grabbed Robin, bending backwards to move her out of the way of the punch, and Phoenix caught Aokiji’s fist. Frowning, Aokiji goes to stomp on Robin but Usopp dashes by, grabbing Robin from Luffy.

“Everyone,” said Lucy, facing away from everyone as she took out her whip, eyes fixated on the man before her. “Get Robin back to the ship, I’ll stay here and fight Aokiji.”

“Lucy! What the hell do you think you’re do-?!” started Nami.

“Just go!” Lucy shouted, interrupting her. “I’m tired of always being the weak one, now when I can actually help . . . Just this once I want to be the one protecting my friends, instead of always being the one protected!”

“ . . . Everyone . . . “ said Luffy. “Get to the ship.”

“But what about-?!” Sanji protested. 

“Now!” Luffy shouted. Something seemed to click with them and Chopper and Usopp carried Robin to the ship, being followed by Luffy, Nami, Zoro, and Sanji.

Aokiji examined Phoenix with interest. “Where did you come from?”

“Lucy-sama summoned me!” Phoenix answered cheerily. 

“And you came?” 

“Of course! She’s my key bearer!” Phoenix said, grinning.

Aokiji looked at Lucy with a newfound interest. “Is this some kind of Devil Fruit ability?”

“No, it’s magic.” said Lucy, grabbing the cylinder attached to her belt. “Flueve d’etoiles!” she called out, activating her magical whip. “And, no matter what, I’m going to use my magic to protect my friends!” she declared, her brown eyes sharp with determination.

And with that, Lucy and Phoenix attacked Marine Admiral Aokiji.


	11. Aokiji vs. Lucy and Phoenix!

Lucy's fleuve d'etoiles wrapped around Aokiji as Phoenix charged at the Marine Admiral, flames shooting from his feet to propel him forwards. The Admiral's eyes widened. He knew that Ace D. Portgas was the user of the Mera Mera no Mi, and Marco the Phoenix had his phoenix devil fruit, so how was this boy using fire. Thanks to his surprise, Phoenix was able punch him with a flame powered fist. This was immediately followed by a kick, powered by the flames coming from Phoenix's heel. Lucy followed up with yanking the marine overhead and slamming him into the ground on with a shout, causing him to shatter into ice.

Aokiji shattered into a million shards of ice upon the impact before once again reforming. "That wasn't very nice." he said, frowning at the two.

"Neither was what you did to my friends!" Lucy shouted at him incredulously.

Aokiji didn't respond as he knelt and placed his hand on the ground. "Ice Age." he said, turning the area around them into a frozen landscape.

Having seen the frozen Sea King, Phoenix figured out that this must be the same thing that froze the Sea King, so he rushed to Lucy and picked her up before throwing her into the air so the ice wouldn't touch her. It did however, get to him, turning him into an ice statue. Lucy landed on her rump with a yelp just after ice stopped spreading. But she barely felt the cold as she stared in horror at her frozen celestial spirit, then she saw Aokiji walk up to Phoenix and punch him, shattering the spirit.

"NOOO!" Lucy screamed, rushing at Aokiji. She knew that Phoenix wasn't dead, celestial spirits couldn't die, but still, the thought of how much pain that must have caused him . . . it infuriated her, making her irrational.

As she charged at Aokiji, she felt her magic drain and saw Aokiji reach out for her as her charge faltered slightly due to the surprise magic drain . . . then Phoenix kicked Aokiji kicked his arm out of the way. Except, it didn't really look like Phoenix, but it at the same time it did. The figure before her looked as if his skin was made of fire, before it solidified to actual skin, revealing that it was indeed Phoenix.

"Ph-Phoenix?" Lucy stuttered, shocked. "H-how? You should have gone back to the Celestial Realm to heal!"

In response, the spirit grinned at her. "Don't you know? When a phoenix dies, it's reborn from the ashes. So I just healed." he explained as if it were obvious. In retrospect, it was just a little bit.

'That would explain why I felt that drain on my magic.' Lucy thought.

Scowling now in annoyance, Aokiji attacked them again, and just like that, things were back in business.

He punched Phoenix in the stomach. He grunted and grinned, grabbing the Admiral's arm before spinning rapidly, before letting him fly across the clearing, right towards Lucy. Jumping up, Lucy met the Admiral in mid-air with a kick. He grabbed her leg to try to freeze it as he was kicked, but Phoenix was there to deliver a flame powered kick to shatter off his arm.

And on it went, like a game of cat and mouse.

• • •

Zoro's jaw, his entire body for that matter, was visibly tense as he stood in the ocean, waiting for the ice on his shoulder to thaw. If he was honest with himself, he was really worried about Lucy. Sure, he'd seen for himself that she was a capable fighter, and was extremely tough, if the incident with Enel was anything to go by. Still . . . she was fighting a Marine Admiral, one that had beaten Luffy, Sanji, and himself, all within a few seconds. He grit his teeth as his heart clenched painfully in his chest. Zoro wished the ice would hurry up and thaw so he could go save her, or help her fight, depending on what her situation was.

'I'm coming Lucy, just hold on.' he thought as he glared determinedly in the direction that he knew Lucy and Aokiji were fighting in. 'I won't let anything happen to you . . . '

• • •

Lucy's knees gave out and she collapsed, just barely catching herself before she completely crumbled to the ground. She was sweating and breathing heavily, her body shaking from exhaustion. Phoenix had already "revived" two more times, that, combined with her own efforts with fighting and keeping Phoenix's gate open had left her nearly completely drained of energy. Even Phoenix was starting to get tired, but there was no one else really suited for fighting this guy, even if Lucy did have the energy to summon another spirit. Aokiji, for his part, had only slightly increased breathing. He looked extremely annoyed, but also a little impressed.

But, this fight was finished. Seeing Lucy's knees give out, he rushed forward and wrapped his arms around her, turning her into a statue. He noted that this cause Phoenix to disappear. Interesting. He released her and sat down tiredly some feet from her.

"Lucy . . . that's what your friends called you isn't it? You did pretty well for a rookie pirate . . . " he said, looking at her frozen form. "Ara ara, I would kill you . . . but you tired me out so I'd rather take a nap . . . Plus you're pretty . . . too bad you decided to be a pirate."

With that being said, Aokiji stood. "You're extremely lucky, Lucy." he said before turning and leaving.

• • •

Zoro, Sanji, and Luffy were all running back to the clearing to make sure Lucy was alright after having thawed off the ice from their frozen limbs. The green haired swordsman froze in his tracks upon entering the clearing. Luffy slammed into his back because he'd stopped so suddenly, but Zoro didn't even feel the impact as he stared at Lucy's frozen form from where it was slumped on the ground. His blood ran cold in fear, before boiling with rage as his face contorted in anger. He couldn't hear Luffy questioning him or Sanji yelling at him, he only wanted to kill Aokiji.

Suddenly, Sanji kicked him in the back of the head. "Pay attention dumbass!" he shouted at him. "I'm pissed off too, but we need to get Lucy-san back to the ship so that Chopper and the others can thaw her out before she dies!"

Zoro, having been about to tell him off, shut his mouth and nodded. The pervert cook was right, getting Lucy thawed was first priority. He went over to her and picked her up, hiking her up on his shoulder before beginning to run back to the ship.

• • •

Some time later, both Lucy and Robin were laying in the infirmary beds. They had been safely thawed out and wouldn't suffer any permanent or long lasting damage. Zoro was sitting in a chair next to Lucy's bed. He was thankful that the blonde chef was preparing a large meal for when the two women woke up, he didn't think he could have stood Sanji's incessant whining any longer. Chopper was regularly checking on the two girls, as well as Zoro, Sanji, and Luffy to make sure the parts of them that had been frozen would be alright as well.

"You'd better have given him a real good ass kicking." said Zoro as he watched her. "And you'd better get a lot of rest while you can, because when you wake up, I'm going to make you train twice as hard."

There was no answer from Lucy's still form. Zoro sighed internally. In all actuality, he was just talking to himself, considering Lucy couldn't hear a word he was saying, but, somehow, talking to her made him feel slightly better, even if she was unconscious. He hoped she would wake up soon so he could confirm with his own eyes she'd be okay, even when Chopper said that she and Robin should be fine.

Zoro was snapped out of his thoughts as Lucy groaned. He looked over at her and saw her brows furrowed, she was waking up. For some reason, this made Zoro happier than it should have. Sure, he was glad she was going to be okay and recovering since she was his crewmate, but this seemed like a little bit more than that. Those warm chocolate orbs slowly opened and came to rest on Zoro, watching over her.

"Z-Zoro?" she groggily stammered. "Where-?" she started to ask, slowly sitting up.

Zoro pushed her back down. "Hey, take it easy. We brought you back to the Going Merry and thawed you out. You should rest. When Chopper says you're back to 100%, I'm going to start training you at twice the difficulty."

"Twice?!" Lucy exclaimed.

Zoro crossed his arms. "You said you wanted become a stronger fighter right?"

Lucy nodded in confirmation.

"Well, the harder you train and the more I train you, the stronger you'll become at a faster pace. Someone's not always going to be around to help you." said Zoro.

With a saddened expression, Lucy stared up at the ceiling. "I know."

He watched her for a few moments before turning. "I'm going to go tell the others you're awake." Zoro began heading up the stars but he stopped for a moment. "Don't be down because you lost. It was to be expected, you were fighting one of the four strongest men in the Navy. But you fought him, so you know the difference in strength, you know his tactics, now, you just have to get strong enough to beat him." he told her before leaving.

Lucy watched him leave. A small smile worked its way to her lips. "I guess even you were pretty worried to huh?" she said softly, even though Zoro could no longer hear her.


	12. Water 7

Robin woke up a few hours after Lucy and Chopper checked over them to make sure both girls were okay. Lucy summoned Phoenix to check on the spirit and make sure he was feeling alright. They stayed at the island for a brief recovery period while the log pose set, then they set off towards the island. However, on the way, the Straw Hats see a giant frog doing the crawl stroke. Wanting to eat it, Luffy orders them to follow it. In doing so, they hit some train tracks that are under the water, which was strange even for Lucy and the other Straw Hats. Then a train traveling on the tracks nearly hit the Going Merry, but hit the frog and sent it flying.

They followed the tracks until they came to a train station where they met a train conductor named Kokoro and her granddaughter Chimney, as well as their pet rabbit, Gonbe, who looked and acted more liked a cat. Kokoro tells them that the frog, whose name is Yokozuna, is fine is always testing his strength against the train. They find out that the Sea Train, called the Puffing Tom, connects several nearby islands. Upon the crew telling them about the damages of the ship, she tells them that the next island, Water 7, is filled with shipwrights, and that they should look for the aid of a man named Iceburg.

Upon their arrival at the island, Lucy was reminded of a water fountain. As they sailed through the canals outside the city. The inhabitants of the city were kind enough to tell them where they could hide the Going Merry, apparently they had a lot pirates come there to get their ships fixed. Zoro and Lucy stayed on the ship, Lucy to train, and Zoro to guard the Going Merry and help her train while the others went shopping and to exchange the gold they got from Skypiea, as well as find a shipwright.

Lucy grunted as she was knocked back onto her rear again. She was already sweating from her training. Zoro had literally doubled the difficulty of her training, as he had promised.

"Come on, get back up!" Zoro barked at her.

Glaring, she did so. The air around them was filled with the snap of Lucy's whip as it wrapped around Zoro's sword and she pulled, attempting to pull it from his grasp. He didn't budge, holding onto the sword firmly. He jerked the sword back, making her stumble forward, the whip loosening from around his blade, and that's when he charged.

Yelping, Lucy dove out of the way. Taking out her magic whip, she wrapped them both around Zoro's feet and yanked, pulling his feet out from under him. She rushed towards him after he fell and tried to drop kick him as he was standing up. Zoro blocked the kick, crossing his blades. It took Lucy a moment to regain proper footing, during which time Zoro abandoned his swords. He caught Lucy's foot as she tried to kick him again and used his grip to flip her.

She grunted as she was knocked down again. It was at this time that some bounty hunters came aboard the ship, but that turned out to be a big mistake on their part as Lucy and Zoro quickly dealt with them before getting back to training. They'd completely abandoned their weapons now and were fighting hand to hand. The bounty hunters were already forgotten.

In the midst blocked and dodged kicks and punches, Lucy hooked Zoro's foot with her own and they fell to the deck, turning the battle into a wrestling match. She managed to get a few good hits in on him, though they didn't really do much damage. They were both panting by the time Zoro managed to pin her hands. Lucy had to stop moving so that she could catch her breath.

Her breathing hitched and she felt a blush rise to her cheeks as she realized their position. Zoro was laying on top of her, pinning her arms down. His face was mere inches from hers, their breaths intermingling. That, combined with the intense look his eyes always had, Lucy thought her heart was going to burst. She saw a pink tinge come to Zoro's own cheeks. Lucy's lips suddenly felt very dry and her tongue darted out to lick them. Zoro's eyes instantly followed the movement, swallowing hard. Before Zoro's brain could register what his body was doing, his head started to drift down . . .

They heard the thud of boots hitting the wooden deck and like that, the moment was broken. Simultaneously, they turned their heads towards the sound. Standing there was a man with a rather long nose that was like Usopp's, except it was more rectangular. He blinked in surprise at them.

"Forgive me, I did not mean to interrupt. I'm just here to check the ship." he said.

Zoro and Lucy blinked at him before looking back at each other. They realized they were still in a very compromising position and hurriedly put about ten feet between them. The long nosed man watched them in confusion.

"Th-th-this isn't what it looks like!" Lucy and Zoro chorused.

"W-we were just training!" Lucy added and Zoro nodded in agreement.

After Zoro and Lucy had calmed themselves, and after a brief explanation from the stranger, they found out that this man was named Kaku. He said he was from the Galley-La Company, a group of the best shipwrights on Water 7, and was here to examine the extent of the damage on the ship and what kind of repairs it needed so they could assess how much it would cost to fix. With that, he dove into the water to examine the ship from underneath. When he came up, he had a grim expression. Lucy was about to ask what was wrong, but he took off.

"Well that was rude." Lucy muttered.

• • •

A little later, after Chopper and Sanji returned from shopping, which had been a godsend for Zoro and Lucy so they could avoid each other better, a breathless Nami came back to the ship. She informed them that a group called the Franky Family beat up Usopp and stole all the money, and they knew where the group was housed. They went to where Nami found Usopp but all they found where bloody footsteps . . . and Luffy. Upon going to the Franky House, they find Usopp, who looked to be at death's door. Nami takes Usopp back to the ship. Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Chopper, and Lucy all stay behind to get revenge for what those guys did to Usopp. It wasn't much of a fight. Soon enough all the men in Franky House were beaten, and the house itself was destroyed. Only then did they find out that their leader had already left with the money.

When they returned to the Going Merry, Chopper treated Usopp's wounds and the entire crew gathered in the men's quarters where Luffy tells them with that big goofy grin of his that they're getting a new ship. Usopp thinks he's joking, Lucy would have thought so too if she hadn't already been told that the ship was impossible to repair. Lucy closes her eyes and ducks her head as an argument breaks out between Luffy and Usopp.

Then Luffy angrily tells Usopp that if he doesn't like the way he captains the ship, then he can just leave. Sanji kicks his head into the floor for saying such a horrible thing. Luffy apologizes but Usopp sees what he says as his true feelings. He leaves the ship, telling them that if they're going to abandon the Merry, then they can just leave him behind too. Before completely leaving, he challenges Luffy to a dual. The stakes? Control of the Going Merry. Lucy can feel sadness rush over her, combining with her own as she places her hand on the railing.

When Usopp shows up for the dual a few hours later, Lucy leaves and goes to the girls' room. She wanted to stop the fight, but this was something that had to happen. Even so, she wouldn't be able to bear watching two of her friends battle in a serious fight against each other knowing there was nothing she'd be able to do to stop it. She could still hear it though, and she could feel that sense of sadness emanating from around her. When the fight is over, Luffy victorious, they leave the ship to Usopp and find a hotel. Robin was still nowhere to be found.

The next morning, they hear news that Iceburg had been shot the previous night. Luffy and Nami go to see the mayor while the rest split up to look for Robin. During that time, Lucy hears about the annual high tide called Aqua Laguna that engulfs the lower part of the city. When Luffy and Nami come back, they gather the others and tell them that Mayor Iceburg said that the people who attacked him were Robin and a masked man. They reach the conclusion that Robin is being forced to do this by the man in the mask, though Zoro points out they should be prepared for the worst. In either case, there would most likely be another attack that night, so they could confront her there and see for themselves.

That night, they hid in a tree outside the headquarters to observe the building. When there is an huge explosion, they decide to break in too, but Luffy is already gone, having left while they had been agreeing that now was a good time to go in. Thinking that Luffy would have distracted the guards by rushing right in, the remaining members of the group follow suit and break in, only to find themselves surrounded.

Zoro, using the unsharpened sides of his swords, and Lucy using her whip, fend off the guards as they make their way to Iceburg's room, running into Luffy and a shipwright by the name of Paulie along the way. When they burst in, they find five people, not including Iceburg. Zoro and Lucy recognize Kaku, while the others recognize Iceburg's secretary Kalifa, and another Galley-La worker by the name of Lucci. None of them recognize the last man, though they hear one of the other call him Blueno. And finally, Robin. Paulie, apparently enraged by the betrayal, attacks Lucci but is easily defeated. It is then that Robin leaves, telling them that she has something she needs to do that she can't accomplish by being with them.

The others reveal themselves to be members of an elite group of assassins that work for the World Government, their particular group being known as Cipher Pol 9, or CP9. Kalifa notifies the rest of her group that they should leave soon since the firebomb they'd set would be detonating soon. Lucci, however, decides he wants to show off his Devil Fruit powers, the Neko Neko No Mi, Model; Leopard. Luffy and Zoro attack him, but he throws them across the island. The others attack him for revenge.

The members of CP9 leave the building is engulfed in flames with Iceburg and Paulie tied up and unconscious, Nami thrown outside, and Chopper and Lucy buried under rubble inside.

• • •

When they wake up, having been taken to safety by Chopper, Iceburg tells them the reason why Robin tried to kill him. Robin had told him that CP9 would call an island destroying fleet of marine battleships known as the Buster Call, and that they would use it on the Straw Hats if she didn't help them assassinate him and then come with them to Enies Lobby to be executed. Robin's goal had been for them to leave the island safely.

With the knowledge that Robin didn't betray them, Nami goes to stop the Sea Train while the others go off in search of Luffy and Zoro. The Sea Train was forced to leave early and Nami arrived there just in time to see it leave, but finds a note from Sanji saying he snuck on. After pulling Zoro out of a chimney, and got Luffy to push apart the two buildings he was stuck between and escape to higher ground as the first waves from the Aqua Laguna storm come in.

Luffy decides that they're going to take a ship to chase after Robin, but Paulie points out that it would be impossible as no ship can get through a normal Aqua Laguna, and this one was far stronger their average Aqua Laguna. However, Kokoro shows up and says that if there was anything that could get past the storm, it would be the Sea Train. She leads them to an old cellar where the Sea Train prototype, Rocket Man, was being kept. Iceburg was already there, finishing some maintenance on the train.

Before they leave, the Franky Family begs them to let come with so they can rescue Franky and Luffy agrees to let them come. Everyone boards the train with Kokoro as the conductor. The train is launched through one of city gates, straight through a massive tidal wave.

And like that, they were en route to Enies Lobby to save their friends.


	13. Enies Lobby

Once they arrived at the island that was Enies Lobby, they were able to meet up with Sanji and Usopp, who disguised himself as a man named Sogeking. They all ended up getting split up and heading towards the wall separately. Lucy was doing her very best to avoid the Marines looking for them. She couldn't deny that this kind of life was very thrilling, but it was also extremely stressful. She wasn't used to actually being wanted by the authorities. Sure, she and her team had gotten into trouble because of the destruction they caused on jobs, but they'd never actually been wanted.

As she rounded a corner, Lucy came face to face with a group of Marines that were searching for intruders, like Lucy for example. Lucy skidded to a halt and turned to go the other way. Unfortunately, the Marines that had spotted her earlier were still chasing after her, so there were Marines behind her as well. She was effectively surrounded.

They raised their weapons at her. "Alright pirate scum! Just surrender and tell us where your friends are!" one of them shouted.

Figuring now was as good a time as any to try out one of her new spirits, Lucy grabbed Aquila's key from her key chain. "Open, Gate of the Eagle! I summon thee, Aquila!" she shouted out, earning many strange looks from the surrounding Marines.

Their strange looks turned to shock as Aquila appeared out of nowhere. "How may I be of service ma'am?" he asked formally with a salute.

Lucy snapped her whip as smirked in challenge at the Marines. "Would you like to help me fight these guys, Aquila?"

If it weren't for Aquila having a beak, Lucy would have sworn that he smiled. "Yes ma'am!" he said eagerly.

They stand so that they were back to back. Lucy used her leather whip to go bowling, using a Marine as a bowling ball to knock down the pins, which were also Marines. Aquila, on the other hand, was using his wings to create powerful gusts of wind that blew the Marines away like so many leaves in a hurricane . . . or in an Aqua Laguna. Within ten minutes, Lucy and Aquila were surrounded by now unconscious Marines.

Lucy brushed some dust from the fight off of her clothes. "Alright, now to regroup with the others . . . " she said with a sigh.

"Ma'am, if you'd like, I could carry you to your friends." Aquila offered.

"Wait really?" Lucy asked. "Are you sure it's okay for me to accept?" She was afraid of abusing Aquila powers.

"Yes. It has been a long time since I have had a key bearer and I could use the exercise." said Aquila. "If it makes you feel better ma'am, going by air would be faster than walking, less taxing on your feet, and it would make it much easier to avoid the soldiers running about."

"Well . . . I suppose as long as you're okay with it." said Lucy, still feeling slightly bad about agreeing to let him carry her.

Now that he had an affirmative answer, he turned his back to her and knelt. "Get on." he told her simply.

Tentatively, Lucy got on his back, putting her arms around his neck so she wouldn't fall backwards. Aquila hooked her legs with his arms so she wouldn't choke him when he straightened. Once he was certain that his key bearer had a secure position and very little could go wrong, Aquila leapt up and flapped his wings, ascending them into the air.

"Which way ma'am?" asked Aquila.

Lucy briefly freed one hand to point towards a large build on the other side of the island. "That way." she said before reasserting her hold around his neck.

Aquila said nothing and flew in the direction she had indicated.

• • •

When they caught up with the others, they were standing on the ramparts of the wall. Lucy was the last one to arrive out of the group, probably because she had spent a lot of time running from the Marines. Zoro became a little pissed as he watched Aquila land and Lucy get off of his back. He didn't even know why he was angry, just all of sudden he just really didn't like Aquila.

As they stood there, they listened to Robin as she revealed her past, and her reason for betraying them. They acknowledge her reasons. A man wearing a mask over half is face, with a bad personality, laughed and pointed up at a flag, telling the gathered Straw Hats that the flag represented the one hundred and seventy affiliated nations that were after Robin.

After confirming that he was aware of that, he turned to Sogeking *cough cough* Usopp *cough cough* and told him to shoot the flag. Utilizing his new slingshot, Usopp shot the flag, setting it of fire. The members of CP9, Robin, Franky, and the masked guy were shocked speechless. In that one moment, the Straw Hat crew had declared war on the World Government. Unable to doubt them anymore after their declaration of war, Robin shouted that she wanted to live, begging them to take her to sea with them.

Everyone seemed happy with her response. Even Franky. He took out the blueprints for the weapon known as Pluton, and burned them with a fire breath. He said something to the masked man that seemed to really anger him and he pushed the blue haired man off the balcony. Lucy told Aquila to catch him. That was before Luffy grinned and stretched his arms to grab all of his crewmates before jumping off the wall. Everyone fell with the laughing Captain, screaming.

Aquila caught Franky in mid-air right before the Rocket Man slammed into the both of them at it shot off the half open drawbridge, while the others landed on top of it. Then it crashed into the Tower of Justice. After emerging from the wreckage, Aquila, looking quite battered, tells Lucy that he has to go back to the Celestial Realm to heal. Once he left, they spoke with a very round man named Fukuro who revealed that each of the five members of the CP9 possess a key, and one of them is to Robin's seastone handcuffs.

With having said that, he ran off further into the building. Luffy went after him, but Usopp and Zoro held him back. Eventually they sent Luffy after Lucci. Knowing they were racing against the clock, having to get the keys before Robin is taken through the large Gate of Justice, they split up, heading off in different directions.

Lucy ran through the tower, searching for members of CP9 so she could get a key. Eventually, she came across Nami fighting Kalifa, who seemed to have some sort of bubble power. Since Nami seemed to be having a difficult time, Lucy offered to step in. And by difficult time, Nami's legs had become smooth, shiny, and slippery, much like the bubbles that seem to have filled the room.

Doing some quick thinking, Lucy tried to figure out which one of her spirits was best suited for fighting Kalifa and her bubble power. Upon seeing a puddle of water on the floor she grinned, having found her answer. Of course, who could forget her strongest spirt?

Still grinning, she grabbed one of the golden celestial keys from her keychain. "Open, Gate of the Water Bearer! I summon thee, Aquarius!" she shouted out as she thrust the key into the puddle of water.

Nami and Kalifa's eyes widened as a beautiful, blue haired mermaid appeared, holding some sort of urn. However, the mermaid's lovely face was marred by an angry and disgusted scowl, which was directed at her summoner, Lucy. "A puddle?" she asked in indignant disgust. "You summoned me . . . from a puddle? What next, toilet water?" she demanded.

Lucy cowered under the spirit's glare, "S-sorry Aquarius, could you just um . . . help me fight her?" she asked meekly, pointing at Kalifa.

"Don't think you can order me around you little brat!" Aquarius shouted as she attacked Kalifa with a massive amount of water from her urn anyway.

Kalifa screamed in shock and fear as she was washed away by the attack. Lucy grabbed onto something solid as well as Nami so the same would happen to them. This was why she didn't hadn't used Aquarius much. Her attacks effected an entire radius, and her friends, especially the more susceptible ones like Luffy, Chopper, and Robin, would be hurt by the attack too, even though Lucy was used to it.

The job done, Aquarius glared at Lucy again before turning her back to her. "Don't summon me again for a while, I'm going to be on a date with my boyfriend." the spirit smirked and looked back at Lucy again. "With my boyfriend." she repeated before disappearing.

"YOU DON'T HAVE TO SAY IT TWICE!" Lucy protested angrily before sighing and standing up.

She helped Nami up, who had been sitting next to her dazed, stunned, and soaked. They regrouped with Kokoro, Chimney , and Gonbe as they started making their way out of the Tower of Justice to rescue Robin. Suddenly, the tunnel they were running through started filling with water. As they ran through the tunnel, trying to escape the rising water, they were joined by Sanji, Usopp, and Zoro.

However their attempts to escape the water were futile as they started to slowly drown after the water had filled the hallway. Thankfully, Kokoro, who turned out to be a mermaid, saved them. However, right before Lucy blacked out from lack of oxygen, she remembered seeing Zoro's worried but defiant expression as she felt someone's hand slip into hers and squeeze it tightly.

When they woke up, they would be with Franky and Robin on a Marine ship that the two had overtaken. As Kokoro and Franky filled them in on what had happened while they were out, Zoro started staring at his hand as if its existence confused him somehow. He spaced out for a bit as his thoughts drifted back to when they had been drowning in that room before Kokoro had saved them.

He remembered refusing to die in such a stupid way, thinking that he couldn't die like that, but more than that, he remembered the pained, scared, and desperate expression on Lucy's face as her lungs burned for air. Without really thinking about what he was doing, Zoro grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze, as if he had been silently trying to assure her that everything would somehow turn out alright.

Why would he do that? He didn't feel the need to that with any of the other crewmates, so why just Lucy? Why had he felt the way he had when he and Lucy had gotten so close during their sparring session? All these thoughts were running through his head currently. They were so confusing and he didn't know what to do about these new feelings he was experiencing, and it was starting to annoy him that he couldn't figure it out. He kind of wanted to ask someone, but his pride wouldn't let him.

Even if he was able to swallow enough of his pride to ask, the was no one in the crew he could ask. Nami and Robin would tease him for it, then use the information to blackmail him. Sanji would laugh his ass off at him and tease him mercilessly for not knowing. Usopp would have been the safest bet, if he wasn't such a coward and bad at keeping secrets. Luffy and Chopper most likely wouldn't know what he was talking about. And there was no way he was going to ask some stranger.

Zoro was distracted from his thoughts as the ships that were part of the Buster Call set their sights on the crew, planning to capture them, especially Nico Robin. In preparation, Zoro, Usopp, Sanji, Robin, and Lucy moved on to the bridge in preparation to fight, drawing attention away from the ship where the injured Nami and Chopper were, as well as Kokoro, Gonbe, and Chimney. As they wait for the Marines to arrive at the bridge to fight them, they see an exhausted looking Luffy still fighting Lucci. They cheer him on, encouraging him to beat the user of the leopard devil fruit which seemed to newly motivate the rubber captain.

As the Marines reach the bridge to capture the crew, they realize that Sanji is missing. Nami decided to get off the ship too since Chopper couldn't move. Those on the bridge were attacked by two hundred Marine captains and lieutenants, some of them were Devil Fruit users, which made fighting them off a lot more difficult. During the fight, Zoro lost one of his swords, Yubashiri, when it was touched by a Marine who could rust anything he touched.

Lucy summoned Lupus to help her fight as she activated her magical whip. Lupus growled and blocked a Marine that tried to attack Lucy from behind. Tilting his head up to sky he howled, causing all the Marines around them to clamp their hands over their ears to block out the sound. This made it much easier for the Straw Hats to fight off the attacking soldiers. Then Lupus turned into a wolf and attacked the Marines. In the background of all the fighting, Lucy could hear Usopp shouting at Luffy.

There was a pause in the fighting as Luffy defeated Lucci. Shortly afterwards, an announcement came from the Den Den Mushi's located around the island, congratulating Luffy and the Straw Hats. They reveal themselves to be the Franky Family, and the Galley-La shipwrights that came with them, Yokozuna, and the giants Oimo and Kashi, all dangling by Paulie's rope to escape the destruction of the Buster Call. They inform the Straw Hats and Franky that they are all well, causing Franky to cry in joy and yell his defiance at the Marines.

The soldiers noticed that Luffy was now completely immobile from his fight with Lucci, and they began advancing again. Then they notice the overtaken ship with Gonbe, Chimney, Kokoro, and Chopper on it and fire at it. The Straw Hats watched in horror as it began sinking. Then they sighed in relief as Sanji appeared, carrying the four that had been on the ship. They run from the ships as they begin to open fire on the crew before aiming at Luffy. They were trying to figure out how to get Luffy over to them when Lucy heard a voice.

And she wasn't the only one who heard it either. Usopp and Luffy heard it too. The voice told them to look below. Quickly, Lucy and Usopp urge the others to jump down to the sea below and for Robin to use her powers to toss Luffy down as well. They did so. Kokoro threw Chopper and Robin threw Luffy as the others jumped before the two jumped after them. They had all landed safely on the Going Merry. Lucy knew what this feeling was now, the ship had its own spirit! That was what that presence she had been feeling was. It was been just like when she had sensed something about Loke, back when they first met in the guild.

Two of the Buster Call ships fired at the Going Merry, but missed and ended up hitting each other as they were caught in a strong current. Sanji had started to close the Gate of Justice, causing the whirlpool currents that had been separating the Gate and Tower of Justice to return. Nami was able to use these currents to their advantage. However, the ships were still firing at them as the masked jerk kept screaming orders. Robin quickly put a stop to that nuisance by breaking his spine. Sanji and Zoro were able to deflect the shots by using their rubber captain as a sling. With a Coup de Vent from Franky, they were able to completely escape from the Marines.

Everyone escaped safely and they managed to meet up with Iceburg and some other shipwrights in a Galley-La Company ship and they eagerly greet him. Unfortunately, their celebration would be short lived as the Going Merry's hull finally split in two. The occurrence left them devastated.

Once again, Luffy pleaded desperately for Iceburg to fix the ship, but unfortunately, he could not. He had already done what he could after he'd found the ship laying on Scrap Heap Island. He too had heard the voice of ship, telling him that it wanted to sail once again and it had been carried off by the waves of Aqua Laguna after he had done what he could for the ship. Iceburg commended them on having a ship with such loyalty, but informed them that the Merry had already gone beyond what it should have been capable of.

After moving over to the Galley-La ship, the Straw Hats set the Going Merry aflame for her final voyage because Luffy didn't want the Merry to be alone at the bottom of the sea. Everyone present could hear the Going Merry's spirit thanking the Straw Hats for taking such good care of him. Sobbing, Luffy apologized for all the damage they had caused him, but the Merry just stated that he loved all the time they had spent together, and that his only regret was that he couldn't carry them any longer. As the ship burns away, the crew cries for the loss of their friend, even as the Going Merry thanks them one last time for giving him a wonderful live.

The only who did not cry was the ever so stoic Zoro, though his sadness could still be seen. Next to him was Lucy, who was sobbing and crying out her grief for all the world hear. She turned to bury her face into the chest of the nearest person, like a child seeking comfort. Zoro's arms automatically went around her in an effort to comfort her as he felt tears soaking through his shirt. He couldn't bring himself to remove them once he noticed what exactly it was he was doing.

Still mourning the loss of their friend of the Going Merry, they returned to Water 7.


	14. Zoro and Lucy's "Date"

It took a couple days to return to Water 7, during which time they rested while their wounds were treated. Galley – La brought the Straw Hats their belongings that they had confiscated from the Going Merry when they had thought they were assassins. After that however, it was back to business as the Galley – La workers began repairing the damages done to the city by the Aqua Laguna. The crew was starting to get a little worried about how they were going to continue their journey without the Going Merry.

It was then that Franky came by and informed them that he had purchased wood from the legendary Treasure Tree using the 200 million beli that the Franky Family had stolen from them. It was the same material that was used to build the ship that Gold Roger used to sail to the end of the Grandline. He told them that he planned to build a ship out of the wood, and he wanted the Straw Hats to sail it. It was only fair since it had been their money that was used, and he wanted to build a great ship that would sail all the way to the end of the Grandline. And that just happened to coincide with Luffy's dream of becoming the Pirate King. Then suddenly the wall was destroyed.

"What the-?!" Franky exclaims.

"Who-?!" exclaimed Chopper.

Lucy didn't really have much of a reactions. Spending over a year in Fairy Tail had sort of numbed her to minor acts of destruction like this. They waited anxiously as the dust cleared and a large figure appeared from the dust cloud. He was extremely well muscled and wearing some strange animal mask.

"Are you guys the Straw Hat Pirates? I have a couple of men here who want to meet with Monkey D. Luffy." the man said. His voice was rough age, judging by the aged appearance of his skin.

"Marines!" said Sanji as everyone got into place to defend their currently vulnerable captain.

The Marine looked past them at the sleeping Luffy. "Really, just as careless as always." he muttered.

And with that, the old man was suddenly behind them. Lucy, along with the other were shocked, the hadn't even seen the man move. They turned to try to stop them but they were far too slow.

"WAKE UP!" the old Marine shouted, punching Luffy on the top of the head, sending him into the ground.

"Luffy!" Chopper shouted n concern.

The said captain began flailing around, holding his head. "It hurts! It hurts!" he yelped.

"Hurts?!" Sanji questioned. "That was a punch! For it to hurt a rubber man-!"

The old Marine was grinning. "There is no defense against a fist of love." he claimed as he took off his mask. "I heard you've been acting pretty recklessly . . . Luffy."

Luffy looked up at the Marine. "Eh?! G-G-G-Grandpa?!" he exclaimed

Everyone let out exclamations of shock.

"Now Luffy, don't you think you owe me an apology?" the Marine questioned.

Outside the building, the marines gathered there seemed just as surprised as the people inside.

"Garp?" Nami said in shock. "Garp . . . isn't that the name of the legendary Marine hero?!"

Turning to their captain, Sanji asked, "Luffy, is your grandpa really . . . ?"

Still holding the large steaming welt on the top of his head, Luffy confirmed. "He is, don't try to fight him. I was almost killed by Grandpa tons of times in the past."

Everyone was shocked by this. Their stubborn captain was telling them that this man was too strong for them to fight. Lucy honestly had no idea what to expect or what was going on. Not being from this world, she had no idea who Garp was, but she was still shocked to hear that a grandfather could nearly kill his own grandson.

Garp didn't seem that happy about Luffy's claim. "Hey now, don't go speaking ill of me. When I tossed you into that bottomless ravine, and left you alone in the jungle at night, and tied you to balloons and sent you flying into the sky, all of it was to make you into a strong Marine!"

"ARE YOU AN IDIOT!?" Lucy shouted at Garp.

Expression deadpanning, Sanji stated, " . . . I think I've just figured out part of what gives Luffy his endless will to live . . . "

After declaring that he had no intention of capturing his grandson or any of his crew, Lucy kind of tuned out as Garp and Luffy began arguing. Garp took Luffy and Zoro outside the building to meet two old friends of theirs. They continue to talk outside as Garp began repairing the hole he made in the wall. The crew also found out about Luffy's father, who even Luffy didn't know about. They were also informed that the second half of the Grandline, known as "The New World", was far more dangerous than the first, being filled with stronger marines and stronger pirates as well.

Some time after the Marines left the Straw Hats location to do their own thing on the Water 7, namely, helping the Galley – La Company with their repairs, the Pirate Crew decided to throw a huge barbeque party with the Franky Family, Galley – La Company, and the giants from Enies Lobby. They partied all through the night, drinking, laughing, and eating to their hearts content. Once again, Lucy and Robin enjoyed the party, but made sure not to party too much with their crewmates. Once morning came around, they were could pretty do whatever they wished as it would be five days before their new ship was done being built.

That being said, the Straw Hats were free to explore the city as they pleased, and so they did. The first thing Lucy did was go to the place where they had first docked the Going Merry. She knelt by the water and sent out a prayer to wherever Merry's soul might be.

"Merry, I hope that, wherever you are, that you are safe and happy. Thank you for carrying us all on our journey. And I hope that, one day, we will meet each other again." she said.

Smiling and wiping away the tears that had slid down her cheeks, Lucy stood and headed to where she had agreed to meet up with Nami and Robin. She'd promised they'd go shopping together. What Lucy wasn't aware of was that her prayer had been heard, loud and clear.

• • •

During their shopping, some of the press people wanted to get photos of her and Nami. They happily obliged. However, more importantly, later into their shopping Lucy happened to spot a head of spiky green hair running away out of the corner of her eye. Curious, she excused herself, apologizing to Robin and Nami, before running off after him. By some miracle, considering how bad his sense of direction was, she managed to catch up with him as he leaned back against an alley wall to catch his breath.

The green haired swordsman was wearing a shirt that said "mama" on it with a picture of a woman and was far too small for him, resulting in it exposing his stomach, and was carrying bags of groceries in each hand. But the most shocking thing was the cloth fastened around his neck that was being used to carry three babies. Three. Adorable. Babies.

"Z-Zoro?" Lucy questioned, absolutely shocked by what she was seeing.

Zoro's eyes widened in mortification as he turned to look at her. "L-Lucy!?" he exclaimed.

"Th-that . . . Zoro . . . wh-what are you . . . ?" Lucy wasn't even sure how to formulate the question, or even what to ask.

That was when Zoro hurriedly explained to her how he kind of got roped into babysitting the three, well, babies, and helping out this woman who he only knew as "Mom". "B-But you can't tell anyone about this!" he pressured her. "Not at all!"

Lucy thought that the whole thing was all so terribly sweet and didn't understand why Zoro felt that they needed to keep this a secret, but she nodded. "Of course, I promise I won't tell a soul."

He seemed relieved at that. "And you can't go blackmailing me for this this!" he said, giving her a serious look.

She crossed her arms and gave him an offended look. "Why would I do that?" Lucy asked him.

When Zoro couldn't come up with a valid answer, he responded, with, "Sh-shut up! How would I know if you would or wouldn't?!" before walking off.

Lucy followed him. "Wait, where are you going?"

"I have to find that woman and give her these kids back. And the groceries too." Zoro said as he kept walking.

"Maybe I should come with you." Lucy suggested.

Still not stopping, Zoro demanded, "Why?"

Lucy sighed. There was no real way to put it lightly. "Because Zoro, you have a horrible sense of direction." she stated matter-of-factly.

"MY SENSE OF DIRECTION IS JUST FINE!" he shouted in protest.

"Alright, alright," she said, rolling her eyes as she made a placating gesture. "Just let me come along with because I want to then?"

Zoro thought about it for a few moments. "Fine." he said begrudgingly.

Lucy smiled. "Thank you." she said, walking alongside him now. "And you know, for what it's worth, I think that's a pretty good look for you. You'll be a great father one day."

A light dusting of pink adorned Zoro's cheeks at the compliment and he looked away from the warm smile Lucy was giving him. For whatever reason, that statement had made him feel pretty happy. "Whatever." he responded.

They kept walking, and Lucy managed to keep Zoro from doubling back or taking the wrong turn many, many times. She did all this while managing not to lose Zoro in the process, which was a small miracle considering how he tended to wander. And she still kept an eye out for this "mom" woman while she was doing this. Some time during their searching Lucy's mind began to wander . . .

Lucy smiled warmly at the two green haired babies in her arms, while Zoro stood next her holding a third child, this one blonde, looking down at it with the same warm expression.

"Such beautiful children we have." he said softly.

"Mm," Lucy hummed in agreement. "That's because they were made with love."

An arm wrapped around her waist as a gentle kiss was placed on her cheek. She chuckled and looked up to smile lovingly Zoro, who shared her expression. Without the usual hard frown lines on his face, Zoro was sparklingly handsome. The mere sight of it was nearly enough to make Lucy swoon.

"Of course they were, my lovely wife. And I'll always be more than happy to make more beautiful children with you." he said, nuzzling her hair.

Lucy giggled and blushed. "Oh you!" she lightly admonished him with a slight roll of her eyes.

His smile widened and he brought his lips down to meet hers. Lucy began leaning up to meet him halfway . . .

Lucy stopped in her tracks, eyes wide and face red like Erza's hair. There was practically steam coming from her head. She squealed in embarrassment and went to crouch in a corner. She slapped her own cheeks.

"Ah! What on earth am I thinking about?!" she cried.

Zoro raised his brow in confusion as he watched. "The hell's up with her?" he muttered to himself.

Looking over, he spotted the woman they'd been looking for and went over to her. He handed her the groceries and the babies. He told her she was going back to his friends, which caused her to argue with him that family was more important than friends. Once again, Zoro told her that they weren't his family before walking off.

"Oi, Lucy! You coming with or not?" Zoro asked the girl, who was still blushing and muttering to herself in the corner like a weirdo.

She stiffened and let out a small "eep!" as her name was called. Lucy turned to Zoro, her face still red. "Y-yeah." she stammered, standing and going over to him.

Lucy noticed the absence of the babies and turned to the woman surrounded by children. She put two and two together and smiled, walking over to them. Her smile widened before she bowed deeply at the waist. "Thank you for taking care of Zoro." she told them with a bright smile when she straightened. If you looked, you would have seen a few of the boys blush. "Well, see ya." she said with a wave as she went back to Zoro.

He looked at her impatiently. "You done?" he asked her.

She answered with a nod.

"Good, then let's get back." he said, beginning to head back to the crew.

Lucy grabbed his hand. "Zoro, it's this way." she said, pointing in the opposite direction.

"I knew that!" he shouted.

Chuckling, Lucy began leading him in the direction their crew was, still holding his hand. Zoro felt no inclination to remove his hand from her grip either.

"Mom" watched the two leave. "I see, so that's why . . . my oldest son is in love eh? Oh well, we'll fetch him later." she said. "Let him enjoy his little date."

• • •

Zoro had seemed distracted as they walked around town. They had decided to walk around Water 7 a little bit more since Zoro was still looking around for a place he could get his sword fixed or buy a new one. He was thinking about that woman and all the kids she took in as her own. Lucy sensed that this was what he was thinking about so she left him to his thoughts. One of the boys that had been with the lady caught up with them. Zoro stopped and turned when the boy shouted after the two. Lucy wondered what could be wrong when she saw his desperate expression.

The boy bent double when he got to them, hands on his knees as he panted for breath. "Aniki! You have to come quickly! Those bad guys came again!" he told them once he'd gotten enough of his breath back to speak.

"What? Those loan shark guys?" asked Zoro. "Sorry, it's not really any of my concern. Besides, you mom can handle herself."

"B-but this time he came back with a bunch of guys! They cornered mom with the others and took them away!" he exclaimed.

Lucy gasped and Zoro's eyes widened. "Where are they?!" Zoro asked, his tone urgent.

The boy seemed happy and relieved that Zoro was going to help. "I know where they're taking them! They always take people to the same place!" he told them.

Zoro grabbed him and put him on his shoulders. "Lead the way."

With a nod he told Zoro where to go and the swordsman took off with Lucy following at his heels. There was no way she was going to let some damned loan sharks bully such a kind woman who selflessly took in so many kids who didn't have anywhere else to go. And there was no way she was going to let Zoro fight alone, regardless of if it was 20 men, or two hundred.

• • •

They arrived just in time to see "mom" beaten back by a large swordsman. The small fry began approaching her, but the kids moved to stand in front of her, protecting her. Just as the men started forward to attack them, Zoro leapt from the roof they were standing on to in front of the family, blowing all the small fry off the narrow roof and into the water below with one attack. Lucy didn't take long to join him using her Flueve d'etoiles to swing herself up.

Zoro began going for the big guy, but Lucy held out her hand to stop him. "Don't worry about these guys Zoro, even I can handle this much." she said before grabbing one of her new keys. "Open, Gate of the Fox! I summon thee, Vulpecula!" she called out.

'Even you?' Zoro thought as he heard the now familiar chime and saw the familiar golden light that usually accompanied her summonings. 'Lucy . . . I don't think you realize just how strong you really are . . . '

Vulpecula's smirking, fox eared form appeared. "Hey Luce." she greeted. "I've been hoping you would summon me out to play." she said in a lazy, sultry tone.

"Hello Vulpecula. You want to show me what you got and take care of these two guys for me?" Lucy asked her, looking at the large swordsman and the loan shark.

Vulpecula smiled mischievously. "With pleasure." she said, eyes glinting.

"Wh-wh-wh-where did you come from!?" the loan shark boss exclaimed, pointing at Vulpecula.

"Your best dreams . . . or your worst nightmares." was her response.

That seemed to anger the loan shark as his face contorted with rage. "What the hell are you on about?! Get her . . . ?!" he trailed off, his angry expression turned to horror, as did the swordsman's.

Everyone looked at each other in confusion, with the exception of Vulpecula, as the loan shark and the large swordsman both paled, slowly looking up at something with terror. Lucy, Zoro, the mom lady, and the kids all looked up, but they didn't see anything. The two men screamed in horror and leapt off the roof they were on down into the water below.

Vulpecula turned to them with a smile. "There, all done. That was a lot easier than I expected."

Lucy looked at her confused. "I . . . don't understand . . ." she said. "H-how did you . . . ?"

"Isn't it obvious?" asked Vulpecula.

Zoro and Lucy shook their heads in unison. "Not at all." they intoned.

Chuckling, Vulpecula smirked playfully at them. "Is it not? It's quite simple really. They saw something that simply wasn't there." said the fox spirit.

"A hallucination?" asked Zoro.

"Illusion magic?" asked Lucy.

Her smirk widened. "My busty key bearer is correct. Now, if that is all, I will be taking my leave." she said with a curtsy. "Ooh! Wait, I almost forgot, the king wanted to give you this." said the spirit, reaching into her chest and pulling out a white key and placing it in Lucy's hand. "He also told me to tell you, 'Your prayers have been heard.' . . . Or some crap like that."

And with that, she disappeared. Lucy looked down at the key in her hands. It was pure white in color, but had a slight glisten to it, as if it was made from some kind of opaque crystal or mineral. Just like her other keys, there was a symbol to represent the spirit the key summoned, and this one was very familiar to Lucy. Smiling, she attached it to her keychain. They said goodbye to "mom" and the kids and headed back to the building the crew was at.

"So, you're really happy you got a new key?" Zoro asked Lucy as they walked.

"Mm hm." she said happily. "And I think everyone else will love it too."

"Huh? Why's that?" asked Zoro.

She just smiled at him. "You'll see. I think it'd be best if the whole crew met him though."

Zoro just raised his brow. "Whatever."


	15. Leaving Water 7

Five days later, their new ship, which they named the Thousand Sunny, was revealed to them. They begin getting ready to set sail. Kokoro came aboard the ship to asked Nami if the Log Pose set yet, and Nami responded that yes, the Log Pose had set, but was pointing too downwards. The mermaid explained to them that the reason that the Log Pose was pointing downward was because the next island was the underwater island of Fishman island.

Sanji got excited at the prospect of seeing lots of beautiful mermaids, then he remembered that Kokoro was a mermaid and became depressed, to which she rather angrily responded that there were plenty of younger mermaids on Fishman Island. Robin expresses her concern about how Devil fruit users can get there, but Kokoro tells them that getting under the sea is not the problem, rather even getting there is. Between Water 7 and Fishman Island was the Florian Triangle, which was an extremely dangerous area of sea where hundreds, if not thousands, of ships have gone missing, been sunk, or have had their entire inhabiting crew killed and/or die. Some speculate that the ships that haven't sunk are cursed or haunted, a thought that gave Lucy, Usopp, Nami, and Chopper the chills.

Lucy had not summoned her new spirit yet as she was biding her time to see if Usopp would return to the crew first. A few distraught members of the Franky Family came running aboard the ship. They had several flyers with them and they were slapped one the deck. The flyers were the crew's new bounties from the events that transpired at Enies Lobby.

"Straw Hat" Luffy: 300 million beli.

"Summoner" Lucy: 160 million beli.

"Pirate Hunter" Roronoa Zoro: 120 million beli.

"Demon Child" Nico Robin: 80 million beli.

"Black Leg" Sanji: 77 million beli.

"Cyborg" Franky: 44 million beli

"King of Snipers" Sogeking: 30 million beli.

"Cat Burglar" Nami: 16 million beli.

"Cotton Candy Lover" Chopper: 50 beli.

Luffy and Zoro seemed happy with their new bounties, while Robin was neutral. Chopper and Sanji were depressed, Sanji because the hand drawn picture for his bounty picture was horrendous, and Chopper because of the miniscule amount he bounty was. Lucy, Nami, and Usopp on the other hand, were extremely worried by this.

"O-o-o-one hundred sixty million!?" she exclaimed with tears streaming down her face. "I could pay the rent on my apartment for almost three months with that kind of money if it was in jewels . . . Why is it so much!?"

"Shishishishi! Oi, oi, Lucy, Lucy! What are you so upset about?! " said Luffy with a grin. "Your bounty is even bigger than Zoro's!"

"Yeah, and it's your first bounty too, you should be proud." Zoro told her.

Lucy's temper snapped. "IT'S A HUGE PROBLEM!" she shouted at them.

What Lucy and the others didn't really realize, except for Robin, was the reason for her high bounty was in her alias. Her bounty was so high because she had this mysterious ability to summon people to fight with her, and these helpers also had their own special abilities. Aokiji told the Marines about Phoenix and Lucy's magic whip, CP9 and Spandam saw Aquila and Aquarius, and the Marines on the bridge saw Lupus. As such, the Marines knew the potential threat Lucy held, and they still didn't know the full extent of her powers. That added to the fact she claimed not to be a Devil Fruit user.

The Franky Family pleaded with Luffy to take Franky with them on their journey since he was now wanted by the World Government, and as a shipwright would be a useful asset to their ship. Speaking of the blue haired shipwright, he was hiding from the Straw Hats, so together with the Franky Family, they came up with a plan to bring Franky to the ship so Luffy could ask them to join. And that was how the Franky Family stole Franky's speedo and began running through Water 7, leading the mostly naked Franky to Zoro, Chopper, and Sanji, who shoved him into a cannon and fired him towards the Thousand Sunny. When he lands, he finds Luffy holding up his speedo, which the Franky Family managed to get to him. He told Franky that if he wanted them back, he had to join the crew.

Lucy, of course, turns away from the scene. Franky's junk was something she could have happily lived her entire life without seeing. She hears Franky screaming and, against her better judgment, to see Robin using her powers to crush his testicles and quickly turns back around. She sees Robin stop using her powers, but still hears Franky shouting. He continues to refuse as everyone tries to convince him, until Zoro and Sanji come running back to inform them that Garp and the other Marines were heading towards them. It is then that Iceburg tells Franky that his dream hasn't been fulfilled, his dream to see his ship sail around the world and experience many adventures, and the mostly nude cyborg finally relents and boards the ship.

They begin to set sail, without Usopp, as the Marine ship came around the island and Garp began literally chucking cannon balls at the crew. At this time, Usopp came running to the shore. Shocked that they would leave without him, he called out to them, talking about all the good times they've had together. Luffy and Chopper were crying as the crew fought back against Garp's inhuman ability to through cannonballs. They really wanted to take Usopp back, but Zoro told them that this was the way things had to be. Usopp needed to realize that he had been prideful and admit that he had been in the wrong. Then, finally, breaking down into tears, Usopp finally shouted his apology, for all his lying and all the stupid things he had done. And finally, tears flowing and snot dripping out of his nose, Luffy literally extended a hand out to Usopp and brought him back to the ship.

Then Garp took an extremely large wrecking ball, that was larger than the Thousand Sunny, attached to a chain currently in his hands, and began swinging it at them. They say their last goodbyes and thanks to the people of Water 7 before Franky uses the Coup de Burst, sending them flying through the air, escaping from the giant wrecking ball and the Marines. Lucy collapses in relief and the rest of the crew celebrate the return of Robin and Usopp, and their latest addition to the crew.

Speaking of which, Lucy figured it was about time to introduce her new spirit to the crew. She had to shout to get everyone's attention, but she did.

"Everyone, there is someone I'd like you all to meet." said Lucy, grabbing her white key. "Open, Gate of the Sea Ram! I summon thee, Going Merry!" she called out, making everyone's eyes widen in surprise.

With the chime and golden light of a celestial gate being opened, the spirit of the Going Merry stood before them, now a Celestial Spirit. He took the form of a small boy of about eight or ten years old. He had straight, short, white hair with curling ram horns coming out of his head and dark brown eyes. Merry wore a long white raincoat that had a hood, red and white striped pants, and brown rubber boots. The most noticeable thing was the skull and crossbones tattoo on his forehead where the skull wearing a straw hat, their crew's jolly roger. It was a mark he seemed to bear proudly.

He grinned widely at all their shocked, surprised, and some teary, faces. "Hello again everyone, I'm so glad I will be able to continue on adventuring with, and that we were able to meet each other like this!"

"And the best part is, Merry's key only took about as much energy as a silver key to use, so he can be around all the time." said Lucy.

"M-Merry!" Nami, Usopp, Chopper, and Luffy cried, glomping the poor spirit all at once in a crying, sobbing, mess.

Lucy smiled as she watched, but then she saw something that took breath away and made her heart skip a beat. Zoro was smiling, actually smiling. He was always handsome before in that bad boy way, but seeing him with a genuine smile . . . he was practically sparkling.

"I . . . I don't understand . . . How?!" asked Sanji. "How is this even possible?"

"I must say, I was wondering much the same thing." said Robin.

Lucy, startled out of her daze turned to Sanji and Robin. "Well, it's possible for the same reasons I'm here and I can still use magic." said Lucy. "You see, I can still summon my spirits here because the Celestial Realm is connected in some way to this one, but there is also magic in this world. But I can tell you more on that later, the more important matter is, since the this world and the Celestial Realm are connected, the Celestial Spirit King was able to capture Merry's soul and link it to this key. So, whenever he's not in this world, he can live happily with all the other Celestial Sprits in the Celestial Realm." she explained.

She didn't mention the fact that the Celestial King seemed to have gone through so much trouble as a result of her emotions when they had been burning the Going Merry's physical form. Like how her spirits could sense when she was in danger, they were able to feel her grief, and so the King made Merry a spirit and was already linking him to a key when Lucy had sent a prayer to him. That being said, he had Vulpecula deliver the key to Lucy's hands.

Sanji stared at her. "That's wonderful Lucy-swan!" he shouted, doing his little noodle dance over to her and glomping the poor girl. "As expected, our wonderful Lucy-swan is so amazing and smart!"

Zoro's eyes narrowed as he watched the blonde haired chef fawn over the Celestial Mage. The cook was always annoying, but for some reason he was getting really pissed off at him now. "Oi, Pervert Cook, why don't get lost." he said.

Face turning serious, Sanji turned to Zoro, ceasing his fawning over Lucy. "What did you say, Moss-head?" he challenged.

"You heard me, Dartboard Brow." said Zoro, smirking at the chef. Mission accomplished.

And like that, the two had started fighting. Ignoring the two males, Robin turned back to Lucy. "How do you figure there is magic here?" she asked.

"Well, it's quite simple really." said Lucy. "The magic here is a little different than what I am used to, but it's also the same. This magic is the Devil Fruits." said Lucy.

Robin's brows shot up in interest. "How so?"

"Well . . . you explained to me that when someone eats a Devil Fruit, it's hard, if not impossible, to tell what power you're going to get. Well . . . it's kind of the same for magic, if it's not suited for you, you can't learn it. For instance, I'm a Celestial Spirit Mage, I wouldn't be able to learn Takeover like Mira, or Ex-quip like Erza. But some strong mage can learn two types of magic, but again, the magic types have to be compatible. And with magic energy, just like with Devil Fruit abilities, if you use too much energy, you die." Lucy explained.

"I think it must be the same with these Devil Fruits, what powers you get are most suited for you. The fact that they give people powers is magical in itself, even if it takes away one's ability to swim. This world had created many powerful creatures and animals. My mother always told me . . . that magic comes from the heart . . . and look, the Going Merry gained it's one spirit because we all loved him so much. That's why . . . I think there's magic in this world." she finished.

Robin processed the information Lucy had given her. "Hmm, you do have a reasonable point, no one has been able to explain the existence of Devil Fruits, and the Going Merry was able to have it's own spirit, something that should have been impossible. But if there is magic in this world why wouldn't people have been able to harness this magic naturally?" she pointed out.

"Well, I thought about that too." said Lucy. "And who's to say they haven't? The members of CP9 are able to harden their bodies like steel, the Priests in Skypiea could see future attacks." she reasoned. "I know of two people you could do that. Gajeel can harden his skin to the point where it's like iron, and Cobra could tell what moves Natsu was going to use next. Then there's Carla who can see into the future. Even in Fiore, the most magic orientated country on Earthland, only about 10% of the population can use magic. And just like Devil Fruit abilities, or the other abilities I've seen here, you have to learn how to use magic, you're just good at it off the bat."

"Hmm, perhaps you have a point, Mage-san." said Robin. "But we will have to see if your theory proves correct."

Zoro notices a barrel floating in the ocean and notifies the rest of crew. They fish the barrel out of the sea and notice it's and offering to a sea god. Thinking there might be food or sake inside, they open it. But they find neither, instead a bright red light shoots out of the barrel and straight into the sky like a beacon. With a big storm heading towards them, and fearing that someone may have spotted them because of the light that came out of the barrel, Nami orders the ship away from the storm, but they are caught in the wind. Franky reveals Soldier Dock Channel 0, which was a set of paddle wheels, which allows them to get away from the storm as they enter the Florian Triangle.


	16. Thriller Bark

Shortly after they entered the Florian Triangle, the crew of the Going Merry would hear a haunting song echoing throughout the fog. Then suddenly a large ghost ship appeared out of the gloom behind them. As it sailed past them, they would be able to see the tall, singing skeleton aboard the ship, striking horror into several members of the crew. Of course Luffy was ecstatic to meet the singing skeleton, so the crew drew straws to see who would go on board with the Captain. Nami and Sanji drew the short straws and ended up having to go on board with the rubber man.

When the three bring the skeleton back to the ship, the rest of the crew were shocked to find out that the skeleton, who had introduced himself as "Dead Bones" Brook, was now a member of their crew . . . thanks to Luffy and his impulsive nature. He ended up joining them for a meal and he explained to them his devil fruit ability, which contributed to his existence of a skeleton. When the crew he was with entered the Florian Triangle, they were quickly wiped out. His Devil Fruit, which granted him a second chance at life, allowed his soul to linger and return to his body. However, he got lost in the fog and when his soul finally found his body, he was nothing but bones.

It was at this point that Usopp, who had donned exorcist attire, noticed that the skeleton didn't have a reflection. Brooks tells them that his shadow had been stolen, and that he can not leave the Florian Triangle with the crew as the sun would turn him to dust. For their own safety, he refused to reveal who the culprit was, but thanks them for brightening his existence. A ghost appears just as Brook was preparing to play them a song, causing Lucy, Chopper, Usopp, Nami, and Brook to scream. As it flies away, large gates entrapped the Straw Hats and their new ship. Brook tells them to escape before running across the water to the nearby island.

While the others want to heed Brook's warning and find a way to escape, Luffy decides they should explore the island instead. Using her powers, Robin informs them that they are currently encased by a large wall that surrounds the entire island. At this, Nami and Chopper claim to have contracted Usopp's "can't-get-on-this-island disease" and, seeing how creepy the place was, Lucy did as well. Luffy, on the other hand, had no such qualms, grabbing a net and a box to catch anything of interest, and further encouraged by the prospect of adding Brook to the crew, Usopp's attempts to dissuade him fall flat. Robin and Franky decide to go with them.

Believing that they'd need a smaller ship to make it to the shore, Franky revealed another Soldier Dock Channel, the Mini Merry II. It was a small paddle boat that resembled their previous ship, the Going Merry. Eager to try it out, Usopp, Nami, Chopper, and Lucy immediately jump in and head for the shore, leaving behind the other five members of the crew on the ship.

In their excitement, they crashed the Mini Merry II into a waterless moat, having been going too fast to stop or slow down by the time they spotted it, and were thrown off the small rowboat and into the moat. Out of the darkness, a patched and sewn together looking three headed dog came out of the shadows. Usopp threw a smoke bomb at it and the four weaker members of the crew managed to escape up a tree on the other side of the moat. But the horrors didn't stop there, as they encountered a suspiciously vampire looking man who went by the name of Hildon, who offered to take them back to Dr. Hogback's mansion.

Chopper recognizes the name and explains that Dr. Hogback was a famous doctor that went missing many years ago. As he was doing this, they had gotten into the carriage that was nearby. On the way to the mansion however, they see several frightening, stitched together monsters, which causes them to request to be taken back to the shore. Hildon seemed to agree and went outside the carriage to relay their request to the coachman. Minutes pass and they look out to find Hildon and the horses gone, leaving them alone in the middle of a graveyard.

Lucy was the first to notice the zombies rising up out of the graves. Her shriek caught the attention of the others and was then copied as they all ran towards Doctor Hogback's mansion. Upon arriving, they encountered a Frankenstein maid who proceeded to attack them by throwing plates at them until a man came out of the mansion and told her to stop. The maid's name was revealed to be Cindry, she had been kicked out of her home because she had tested her lover's feelings by breaking all his important dishes. The man introduced himself as the one and only Dr. Hogback and invited them in for dinner, where he explained that he was on the island to research the zombie inhabitants.

Chopper was ecstatic and accepted immediately, Lucy on the other hand had a really bad feeling, and she had learned to trust these feelings. After dinner, she and Nami took a shower together while talking to Chopper and Usopp as they guarded the door, per Nami's orders. Nami informed them that she thinks Dr. Hogback is lying and knows more about the island than he's letting on.

Lucy pipes in. "I think Nami's right. I've had a bad feeling about this place since we arrived. Then there's how Hildon just ditched us in the graveyard when we told him we wanted to go back to the ship."

Nami made a sound of agreement behind her. Suddenly Lucy felt herself being pinned to the wall and her mouth being covered, but she couldn't see her attacker, as it appeared to be invisible. Screaming into the hand covering her mouth, her knee reflexively jerked up. Whatever had attacked was humanoid and definitely male, judging by its reaction to her knee ramming into the apex of its thighs. She was immediately released with a pained grunt and Lucy then proceeded to Lucy Kick her attacker through the wall, literally. She had kicked him so hard it left a man shaped hole in the wall. The commotion summoned Chopper and Usopp into the shower room, which promptly earned them a smack, a scolding, and a fee from Nami . . . at least that's what Usopp got.

Later that night, the group decided to explore the mansion. They were attacked by several zombies and upon escaping them, they stumble into a room decorated with pictures of Cindry. Nami realizes that Cindry was a famous actress that had reportedly died ten years ago. Bolting once again upon opening a chest and finding a zombie jack-in-the-box, they accidentally enter a secret passage hidden in a fireplace. Following the passage way, they come across Dr. Hogback's lab and find him actually creating a zombie. Suddenly they were knocked forward into the lab and when they turn around they see a zombie samurai who introduced himself as Ryuma. Upon seeing Lucy and Nami, he asked them if he can see their panties, angering them until they realize . . .

"He's just like Brook . . . " said Lucy.

Ryuma responded by drawing his sword and running straight past them. Confused but relieved that he didn't done anything, they started to run but collapsed, unconscious from the wounds that they had not noticed had been inflicted as the zombie samurai ran past them.

An undetermined amount of time of time later, Nami, Lucy, and Usopp were woken by Chopper and find themselves what looked like a forest, but was actually a garden on a bridge spanning from the tower of Dr. Hogback's mansion. Soon they found themselves surrounded by animal zombies, one of which was a penguin with a dog's face. They turned tail and began to fight through them to escape. When any of the other animal zombies tried to attack either Nami or Lucy, the dog-penguin protected them, saying it will never harm a lady.

Then a hippo zombie wearing a wedding dress tries to attack Lucy but she is picked up by a lion faced man, who name was Absalom. Nami took her Clima-tact and electrocuted him, allowing the group to continue escaping as they were pursued by Lola and Absalom mistook being electrocuted for love. During the chase, Lucy somehow got separated from the others and was cornered by Lola. Once Lucy found out why Lola was trying to kill her, she managed to convince her that she was a man, telling Lola that if she wanted Absalom to marry her, she would need would need to go after her. The hippo zombie took her advice, going after Absalom. Lucy takes the chance to rejoin with Usopp, Nami, and Chopper, who happen to be hiding in a large stuffed animal zombie named Kumashi.

They all watched in horror from inside Kumashi as a man named Gekko Moriah removed Luffy's shadow and causing him to lose consciousness and he orders spider mice to take the body back to the Straw Hat's ship while the shadow is quickly taken away. Awhile later they heard a very loud voice bellowing for food. The gang fell out of Kumashi and were discovered, but whatever it was roared for food again and they took advantage of the momentary distraction to escape. As they run down the stairs, they're enveloped by explosions that came out of nowhere. In the commotion, Lucy was knocked out and stolen away by Absalom while the rest got surrounded by zombies.

• • •

Sometime later, Usopp, Nami, and Chopper, having rejoined with Franky and Robin, return to the ship. Upon their return to the Thousand Sunny, they find Sanji, Zoro, and Luffy all positioned in rather amusing, but immature, ways. In an attempt to wake them, Franky and Nami both hit the three several times, with no response. Then Usopp gets an idea.

"A BEAUTIFUL LADY who is a STRONG SWORDSMAN has just brought A TON OF MEAT!" he shouted.

Shamefully, the tactic worked and the three strongest members of the Straw Hats began coming to. They explain the situation to the three and Franky informs them that Brook was a member of the crew that had promised their return to Laboon, a giant whale waiting at the Reverse Mountain. Zoro however, becomes a bit more concerned at Lucy's absence, something responds to by immediately running off the ship to go look for her, Sanji stays to make sure Nami stays safe.

Zoro finds Lucy just in time to see Absalom trying to kiss an unconscious Lucy, who was being held up by a couple of zombies. Rage burned like fire through his veins and his body moved before he could to tell it to. Absalom's puckered lips met Zoro's palm as the swordsman grabbed him by the face and threw him through the wall before doing the same to the zombies holding Lucy up. He caught her in his arms as she fell before drawing one of his swords as Absalom began rising out of the rubble.

"Oi, you, give me back my bride!" Absalom groaned as he stood.

"She not yours." Zoro told him with a heated glare, his voice nearly a growl. There was the slight undertone of "she's mine" to his voice that he himself didn't notice.

Absalom fired an explosion at him, which Zoro deftly dodged without much change in facial expression. Zoro nearly cut him in half with a one sword slice, which Absalom barely dodged. The lion man proceed to fire two invisible guns strapped to his hands, only to be blocked by Zoro's blade. Seeing he was clearly outmatched, he attempted to escape by turning invisible, but this didn't work all that well as Zoro was able to instinctively sense him. Finally, with the lion faced man unconscious, Zoro hiked Lucy up onto his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and began running to rejoin the others.

Along the way, he comes across Ryuma about to cut off Brook's afro. He blocks the hit. Noticing he had a nice blade, one that would make a great replacement for the one that was destroyed back at Enies Lobby, he challenges him. Zoro set Lucy down, placing her in the protection of Brook, informing him that if he does anything to her or if anything happens to her, he'll kick his ass, and with that, he begins his battle with Ryuma.

It was a tough battle, the opponents being nearly equal in strength, but Zoro won in the end, defeating the zombie samurai with an attack involving blue flames. As he dies, Ryuma gives his sword to Zoro, claiming him to be worthy to yield it. Shortly afterwards, Brooks shadow returned to him following the zombie's death.

Now to rejoin with the crew . . .


	17. Straw Hats vs. Oz and Moriah

Leaving the unconscious Lucy in the hands of Brook, Zoro ran off to help the rest of the crew fight the zombie giant known as Oz, who was currently being animated by their captain's shadow. There was no way he would be able to keep Lucy safe in this fight, while fighting the giant. A part of him despised the fact he had to leave her side.

Lucy wakes up later and rejoins with the crew in time to see them beating on an upside down Oz with his horns in the ground. Dawn would be approaching soon and this would be bad as Lucy had seen Luffy's shadow taken from him. Normally this would not be a problem as the sunlight never shines through in the Florian Triangle, but thanks to Oz's earlier meddling and antics which included messing with the rudder of Thriller Bark, the ship had begun to drift out of the Florian Triangle. Turns out that Thriller Bark was the world's largest ship. They had to defeat Moriah and get everyone their shadows back before dawn arrived. However, she realized there was something else she needed . . .

She came back just in time to see Oz be beaten by everyone. Lucy would have been there much sooner except the shore had been a bit farther away than she had anticipated. Everyone began celebrating until an enraged Moriah rises from the cockpit that was in Oz's stomach. They prepared to fight as Moriah began giving him a speech about how the New World was out of their league. Placing his hands on the ground, he began absorbing the shadows he had taken from others in his ultimate technique, a technique called, "Shadow's Asgard."

"So, Straw Hat, you say were able to absorb one hundred shadows? Well, I can absorb one hundred . . . two hundred . . . three hundred . . . four hundred . . . " Moriah's form began deforming and swelling till he looked reminiscent of a giant gecko. "five hundred . . . six hundred . . . seven hundred . . . eight hundred . . . " the crew watched in horror and dread as he continued to grow. "nine hundred . . . ONE THOUSAND SHADOWS! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Lucy stepped forward. "Everyone, grab on to something solid and keep a hold on Chopper, Luffy, Robin, and Brook." she said.

Zoro's eyes widened. "Lucy! What are you thinking, you can't take this guy on alone!"

She turned to him and smiled. "Actually Zoro," she said from where she was standing, holding a cup of water, sea water to be specific. "this is one of the few things I can do, so just trust me."

Conflicted, Zoro looked at Luffy, who nodded. They all stepped back and grabbed hold of something and each other. Lucy was taking over this fight, her companions exhausted from their fight with Oz. Moriah looked down at her and laughed.

"Oh? What's this? You think you can beat me all by yourself little girl? Ahahahahaha! Foolish!" he exclaimed in glee.

Lucy glared at him steadily as she took one of the golden keys from her belt. "Not alone, no, but I have the perfect person who can help me beat you." she declared with confidence.

"Ah? And who might that be? Your exhausted friends?!" he asked before laughing again.

Without answering, Lucy shoved the key into the cup of sea water. "Open, Gate of the Water Bearer! I summon thee, Aquarius!" she shouted out, the blue haired and temperamental mermaid appearing before them.

"So it is true, you really can summon companions to fight for you, but it won't do you any good!" he declared, raising his hand to smash her.

Lucy looked at her spirit. "Aquarius, you know what to do." she said.

Surprisingly enough, the spirit didn't argue with her or berate her for summoning her out of a drinking cup. With a shout, Aquarius spun around, creating a massive wave of sea water that blasted into Moriah, washing him away and deactivating his powers, all shadows returning to their rightful owners. Zoro had rushed out and grabbed onto Lucy, anchoring them with his new sword so she wouldn't get washed away as the wave rolled over them as well.

Everyone stared in amazement afterwards, shocked that the blonde mage had beaten Moriah in one hit. Lucy and Zoro stood in the center of an empty battleground, Moriah washed away somewhere, everyone else in the background. He still held her in his arms as she looked to him with a smile.

"See? I told you I could do it." said Lucy.

Zoro looked at her before smiling slightly, making Lucy's heart skip a few beats. "Yeah . . . you did."

Aquarius watched silently from the side. 'So, she finally got herself a man hm?' the mermaid thought before smirking. 'Guess I better leave them, I have my own boyfriend to get back to after all.' she thought as she went back to the Celestial Realm of her own accord.

With Moriah and Oz defeated, everyone's shadows returned, everyone began to cheer and celebrate in the early rays of the morning sun. Once again however, their celebration is cut short by the appearance of Kuma, the Tyrant. He received orders to revive Moriah and eliminate all witnesses to his defeat. With that, he teleports to Zoro and Lucy, deciding to start with them first. Zoro attacks Kuma, who deflects all of his strikes with his Paw Paw no Mi abilities. Sensing that Kuma will not be as easily defeated as Moriah, Lucy summons Loki this time, who gets right to helping Zoro. Lucy does her best to help with her whip, but nothing was landing or having any effect. Sanji and Usopp join as well, but again, nothing works.

Kuma teleports back and began to compress the air into a paw shaped balloon, making a bomb. Lucy dismisses Loke and summons Scutum the shield instead. Luffy was unconscious through all of this, having passed out after Aquarius used her water attack.

"Scutum, I need you to make a shield to block the explosion." Lucy told the shield quietly.

"You don't have enough magic!" the grumpy shield responded.

"You don't think I know that?! Just do something!" Lucy hissed desperately.

While she was arguing with the spirit she missed Kuma asking them to turn in Luffy and be spared. Everyone responded with a resounding never, and Kuma released his bomb, sending everyone flying. Scutum managed to protect everyone from dying from the explosion before he was forced back into the Celestial spirit realm, draining a lot of Lucy's remaining magic.

She managed to regain consciousness just in time to hear Kuma say, "Very well, I will spare your captain's life, but in exchange . . . I will show you what hell is like. This bubble is your captain's pain, and fatigue, a culmination of all the damage he experienced during his fight with Oz. In your current state . . . it will be impossible for you to survive. Don't believe me? See for yourself."

Lucy raised her head and watched as Kuma passed his hand through a large red tinted bubble, a relatively tiny bubble separating from it and floating towards Zoro. It entered his chest and for a moment, nothing happened. Then Zoro started screaming in agony, blood spurting from his wounds as if his body was trying to rip itself apart.

"Zoro!" Lucy screamed, scrambling to him and managing to catch as he fell, skinning her knees in the process. He was gasping from the residual pain. With tears in her eyes, she turned to Kuma. "I'll take his place!"

"Lucy, no!" Zoro groaned, voice strained.

More than anything, he wouldn't let her experience this pain, the pain he had willingly agreed to take. Zoro forced his body to stand, despite Lucy's protests. She stood with him.

"You can't! You'll die!" she exclaimed, tears lingering on her lashes, a few had already run down her cheeks.

"I agreed to do this, this is to save Luffy. What kind of swordsman am I if I can't even protect my own captain?!" he argued.

"We find another way! How do you think Luffy would feel if you died!? How do think I . . . " more tears fell. "You live for the ones you care about! Not die for them! Think about the people you'll be leaving behind!"

Lucy could see that Zoro wasn't budging on this issue. She looked over at the red tinted bubble floating next to Kuma and her eyes narrowed in determination. Zoro saw this and knew what she was thinking, she was going to run into the bubble and take the pain for him. His heart throbbed, and he knew the reason why now.

Before she could run off to do just that, Zoro raised his hand to caress her cheek, his thumb gently wiping away the tears there. Lucy looked up at him with those gentle, chocolate brown eyes, her breath hitching slightly at the action, and he knew more than ever what these feelings of his were. But he also knew this could very well be the last time he ever saw her.

His body knew what to do before his mind did. The hand on her cheek gently guided her closer to him as he leaned his head down closer hers. Lucy's eyes drifted closed of their own accord and her body moved on its own, leaning her head up for something that she hadn't even known she'd been waiting for. Zoro's lips finally met Lucy's.

Neither of them had ever experienced anything like this. The moment their lips met, their hearts sang and skyrocketed into the sky and their bodies became warm. Time seems to stand still the world became just them. Lucy had read about kissing in books but . . . it was nothing compared to the real thing. Neither of them could really think, their world consisting only of each other.

Unfortunately, all things had an end and Zoro pulled away, his expression sorrowful as he met Lucy's slightly dazed and confused eyes. "I'm sorry." he told her.

This caused her brows to furrow in confusion before she gasped in pain, Zoro having punched her in the stomach. She slipped into unconsciousness, Zoro catching her in his arms as her body became limp before gently lowering her to the ground. He turned to Kuma, eyes narrowed in determination.

"Let's take this somewhere else."


	18. On to Sabaody

When Lucy regained consciousness, being the last to do so, she noticed Zoro's absence and immediately went looking for him. She found him, standing in a circle of his own blood, somehow, miraculously, still alive. She immediately got him back to the others to be patched up by Chopper. There were no words to express how relieved she was to hear he would be okay once he got some proper rest. In the meantime, Lucy watched over him.

Once he woke up, everyone was feasting and celebrating. Brook joined their crew, adding his thirty three million beli to their overall crew bounty, as well as finally giving their crew a musician. As a celebration, Brook began playing a piano that the other crew found, playing a popular pirate song called, "Bink's Sake" to which everyone began singing along, except for Lucy who didn't know the song. There were other things on her mind anyway.

Things had been so hectic that Lucy and Zoro hadn't really had a chance to speak in private since the swordsman woke up, not that either of them were particularly ready for what this would entail. They both remembered the kiss they had shared. Every time Lucy thought about it she felt really happy and it made her heart flutter. Zoro, on the other hand, wasn't sure what to do. He had never been in a romantic relationship, or ever really thought about having one either, his primary and essentially only goal in life was to become the strongest swordsman in the world, but ever since Lucy had entered his life, everything had been . . . less certain for him.

Nevertheless, they still needed to find where they stood. Finally, they were able to get away from the others to chat. Lucy and Zoro stood in front of each other in awkward silence for several moments, neither of them saying anything. Lucy felt so nervous and Zoro felt so unsure.

Finally, it was Lucy who decided to break the silence. "Um . . . Zoro . . . why . . . did you kiss me?"

" . . . Isn't it obvious?" Zoro asked.

"Perhaps . . . but I want to hear you say it." said Lucy. "And be honest . . . no leaving things out."

Zoro sighed through his nose. He really wasn't good at "talking", being a man of action. Regardless, he decided to give it a shot. "I kissed you because . . . you were going take Luffy's pain in my place, it made me realize . . . how important you are to me . . . even then I only kissed you because I thought it would be the last I would see you."

Lucy blushed. She really had been going to do that, she'd been so worried Zoro was going to die. "Does that mean . . . you like me then?"

He frowned. "I wouldn't have kissed you if I didn't. I don't know if you feel the same or not, but I don't want anything to change between us, regardless of your feelings towards me. I have a dream I need to accomplish, and I plan to do so. Romance . . . will only be a distraction. Besides . . . in seven years . . . you'll return home won't you?"

Lucy visibly flinched at that. "I . . . I don't know . . . But I do know that . . . I really like you, a lot. I can't just go back to pretending that nothing happened between us. I don't see romance as a distraction, because where I'm from , love always makes a person stronger, it gives them a reason to fight and survive. I'm not saying we should . . . be a lovey dovey couple . . . and I don't want things to change between us either, I loved the friendship we had and I don't want that to change, but that doesn't mean we can't be together."

Zoro crossed his arms as he thought about what she said. So she wasn't expecting the stereotypical lovey dovey relationship from him, and she did want to keep their friendship intact, which was the same thing he wanted. However, neither of them would be able to deny their feelings and he knew she was right about love making a person stronger, the only reason why he hadn't died from taking Luffy's pain was because he had been thinking about Lucy, and how much it would hurt her if he died and how much he wanted to see her again. He noticed Lucy's nervous expression as she waited for his response.

" . . . How about we just see where things go?" Lucy suggested. "We don't have to start dating right away or anything, just . . . try things out and see how they work out?"

" . . . So we'd be friends . . . who are kind of dating?" asked Zoro.

"I guess?" said Lucy.

Zoro mentally shrugged. He supposed he could give it a shot, as long as it didn't distract him too much from defeating Mihawk. He stepped closer to Lucy, who was waiting for his response to her suggestion. Always a man of action more than words, he leaned forward and captured her lips a second time, catching her by surprise judging by the small "eep" noise she made against his lips. He pulled away and smirked at the blush on her cheeks.

"To seal the deal." he said before walking away to return back to the others.

"I-! You-! Uhg!" Lucy shouted in frustration.

And just like that, all the tensions between them were diffused. Neither of them had any plans to announce this next step in their relationship to the crew, not yet anyway. In the next couple of days, as the crews prepared for the Straw Hats' departure, nothing had really changed much between Zoro and Lucy apart from a few stolen kisses here and there when no one was watching, and Zoro starting fights with Sanji every time he tried to flirt with Lucy.

Finally it came time for them to leave. Lola gave Lucy half a piece of paper called a Vivre Card that belonged to her mother, a paper that would always lead in the direction of its owner. She told them they should look for her mother if they ever got into trouble in the New World. Remembering the piece of paper that Ace had given him back at Alabasta, Luffy takes it out where everyone notices the piece of paper slowly burning. Instinctively, Lucy knew this wasn't good and she was proven right when Lola explained that this meant that Ace's life was in danger. Though momentarily concerned, Luffy puts the paper back in the ribbon of his hat, stating his brother will be fine and can handle himself. Having everything they needed, the Straw Hats said farewell to Lola and her crew and set sail, leaving Thriller Bark and the Florian Triangle behind in favor of following the Log Pose towards Fishman island while the Rolling Pirates set sail as well, using Brook's old ship.

• • •

A few days later they arrived at the spot directly above Fishman Island. However they encountered an obstacle, the Red Line, which Lucy knew by now was the continuous strip of land encircling the prime meridian of this world. It was blocking them from entering, therefore halting their progression, and as it was impassable it left them stranded near several World Government landmarks , like the Marine Headquarters and the holy land of Mariejois inhabited by the World Nobles.

With really no other options, Luffy, Robin, and Brook take the Thousand Sunny's miniature submarine, Shark Submerge, below to search for Fishman Island. They find nothing but a very angry rabbit Sea King that chases them to the surface where Luffy was able to easily beat it with one of his rubber punches, causing it to spit out a mermaid and a starfish. Thanking the pirates for saving them, the mermaid introduces herself as Keimi, and her talking starfish as Pappug before trying to sell them some takoyaki.

Taking a Den Den Mushi out of her satchel, she proceeds to call her boss, the owner of a takoyaki stand by the name of Hatchan. She's shocked when someone else answers, claiming to have captured Hatchan and are planning to sell him as a slave. Keimi begs the Straw Hats to help her save him. After consulting with Nami, Luffy agrees. Using her ability to speak with the fish around them she helps them navigate towards Grove 44 of the Sabaody Archipelago, the base of the Flying Fish Riders, the people that had captured the octopus fishman, was on this route.

As they neared the base they were attacked by some of the Flying Fish Riders, who returned to their base after a brief battle, having been ordered to retreat by their leader Duval. When they enter the base, they find it oddly quiet and figure out that it is not an island, but a village built on the sea. They knew it was a trap, but they had promised to help. However, the Pappug and Keimi did not seem to realize this. Hatchan, who was tied up in a cage, tried to warn them about the trap. It is then that finally recognize the octopus fishman.

Lucy saw that the crew was starting to reconsider helping Hatchan and sensed the tension between them. Angry at them for thinking of going back on their promise to help, Pappug and Keimi jump into the sea, where they are nearly instantly captured by the Flying Fish Riders. Lucy looked at Hatchan before speaking up.

"I don't know what past you have with Hatchan, but whatever he did, he's changed, and we should help them anyway, because we said we would, and Keimi and Pappug are our friends." said Lucy.

"Would forgive someone who wronged you?" asked Nami.

"I would and I have." said Lucy.

That seemed to convince the others to help as well. With that, Luffy rescues Keimi and Pappug using his rubber ability, and Zoro freed Hatchan while the rest of the crew fought the Flying Fish Riders and the Marcro Pirates that were working with them. They continued to battle them until Luffy crashes a giant flying fish into Duval's room, having been trying to ride it. The leader soon chases Luffy out of the room, riding on his bull. It is then that he proclaims that Sanji destroyed his life, and when Sanji states that he doesn't remember him. Luffy tells the crew that they all know his face, and that's when Luffy violently removes his mask.

Everyone gasped. Duval's face was an exact replica of Sanji's horribly drawn wanted poster picture. Duval begins to shout how Sanji ruined his life, and was promptly kicked in the face by Sanji, who shouted he didn't care. They then proceeded to argue until Sanji rearrange Duval's face, making him much more handsome to be honest. Getting Hatchan, Keimi, Pappug, and the other crew members back on the ship, they begin sailing away, leaving the Macro Pirates and the Flying Fish Riders defeated.

Later they celebrate together by eating some of Hatchan's takoyaki. After Usopp, Luffy, and Chopper eat till they couldn't eat anymore, and Hatchan collapsed from the effort of keeping up with them, Duval finds them and expresses his gratitude for his new, handsome face. He offers the Straw Hats his Den Den Mushi number, telling them to call him if they ever needed help. With that, Duval and his Riders rode off.


	19. Sabaody

Soon after the events with The Flying Fish Riders and the Macro Pirates, they finally arrived at the Sabaody Archipelago. On the way there, Keimi and Pappug explain to them that there are two ways of getting to the New World, the first being to request permission from the World Government to pass to Mariejois, which was out of the question considering they were pirates, and the second was to go through Fishman Island, sailing through a passage underneath the Red Line. Making them promise not to attack any World Nobles, even if someone was killed before their eyes, Hatchan promises to take them to someone who would coat their ship so they would be able to get to Fishman Island.

Usopp and Franky stay aboard the Thousand Sunny to make repairs, and Sanji stayed to look after the treasure aboard the ship per Nami's request while the others left to explore the island. Zoro and Lucy left together, Lucy claiming it was to make sure that Zoro didn't get lost. The rest of the crew bought the story, but Nami and Robin didn't miss the secretive look Zoro and Lucy shared, or how Zoro didn't yell at her for suggesting he had a bad sense of direction. Both women smiled at each other, knowing what was going on.

While they are walking around together, exploring the island, they come across a World Noble. Lucy watches in horror and Zoro in anger as the Noble kicks over a stretcher that was carrying a dying man. When the doctors and the nurse with him protested and begged for the Noble to let them take the man to the hospital that was just behind him, the Noble got angry, saying that the man's life was less important than him receiving respect was. The nurse gave her try at pleading with the Noble, but instead was immediately chosen to be the Noble's wife. One of the doctors, the woman's fiancé, steps forward and protests. The Noble responds by shooting the man. Having had enough, both Lucy and Zoro step forward to attack the man and stop him. Angry at them for disrespecting him, he pulls out his pistol and fired two shots at them. They dodge and are preparing to attack back but were tackled by a child.

"Nii-san! Onee-san!" she cried, her eyes telling them to play along as she pretended that they'd been shot.

Satisfied that they were dead, the Noble moved on. The child berated them, asking them if they were trying to bring the Marine Admirals down on the island. Having no clue what she was talking about, Lucy and Zoro helped the dying man and the doctor that had been shot get to the hospital. Things got even stranger as they were picked up by a couple of Flying Fish Riders, Luffy being with them. Luffy informed them that Keimi had been kidnapped and they had to go to an auction house to save her.

Luffy decided it would be a good idea to crash right through the roof, an idea Lucy very adamantly disagreed with, but her protests were ignored and the three crashed right through the roof of the auction house. Everyone was shocked by their arrival. Luffy immediately rushes so save Keimi, who was being held in a giant fishbowl on the auction stage. Hatchan was forced to restrain Luffy, causing him to reveal himself as an octopus fishman when he'd been disguising himself as a human. A gunshot rang out and shocked silence fell . . .

The Noble from earlier had shot Hatchan. Everyone stared on in shock and horror and Luffy attempts to retaliate, but Hatchan reminds him that he'd promised to harm any of the World Nobles, and claimed he deserved it anyway. Hatchan says he just wants to make up for his time as a pirate. The Noble had heard enough and raises his gun to shoot Hatchan again, and Luffy didn't care anymore, striding angrily up to the Noble and punching him full force in the face.

Luffy apologizes to his crew but they understood, and no one was complaining about what he did. Lucy and Zoro even piped in, saying that they had wanted to attack him too. Zoro added that this made things less complicated since they were pirates after all. The others that had been there to buy a slave quickly cleared out. Zoro frees Keimi from the fishbowl as the rest of the Straw Hats as they begin to fight the other Noble's guards. The wall was suddenly destroyed, revealing Rayleigh and giant. He says he was only here to take the house's money, and the money of anyone who bought him, though no one would want to buy an old man anyway.

Seeing Hatchan and Keimi, who knew the man, Rayleigh quickly connected the dots about what was going on. He released a wave of energy that made Lucy gasp as it passed over her and the others, knocking out the guards. It was like standing near Gildarts when he was getting ready to battle Acnologia with the rest of them, just the sheer amount of power emanating from this man. He removes the explosive collar that had been placed on Kiemi while Franky gives the keys to the other slaves so they can begin freeing themselves.

There were two other pirate captains present in the auction house as well by the name of Law and Kidd, both rookie pirate captains like Luffy. When they address Rayleigh as the "Dark King", he replies saying he's just a simple coating engineer now and asks them not to use his former title as he would prefer to continue living his peaceful life. He then thanks Luffy to saving Hatchan and tells them they should leave, but by then Marines had completely surrounded the building, demanding the release of the World Noble they were holding "hostage", when in actually the Noble was unconscious on the ground.

When Kidd offers to take care of the Marines while the others escape, Law and Luffy take it as an insult and instead choosing to join him in the fight. The giant from before decides to help by aiding the rest of the Straw Hats in getting the slaves out. The Marine forces had been pretty much obliterated by the three captains by the time the others came out to help, but reinforcements were already arriving so they cleared a path for Rayleigh, Keimi, and Hatchan to escape before following Rayleigh to Shakky's bar.

As Hatchan's gunshot wound is treated, the rest of the crew speak with Rayleigh. He reveals that he was a member of Gold Roger's crew. Sanji asks him how he can be alive if Gold Roger's crew had been captured, to which Rayleigh responds by saying that The King of the Pirates had turned himself in, having contracted an incurable disease four years before he was executed, disbanding his crew beforehand. Turns out, he had conquered the Grandline in just three years, being executed a year after being "crowned" the King of the Pirates. The crew were actually shocked and awed by the story, especially about how he started the new pirate age. After telling the story, he offers to coat their ship for free and tells them it will take him three days to properly coat it, and until then they should lie low and avoid trouble.

To draw attention away from the shop, they decided to split up and they're each given a Vivre Card so they can find their way back to the shop. Rayleigh decides to move their ship to a safer location. Even Lucy and Zoro split up, but not before a secretly stolen kiss. This separation didn't last long however as they eventually end up together again, fighting a Kuma clone.

They manage to take it down but Zoro is decommissioned, still suffering from his injuries that occurred during Thriller Bark. He keeps fighting as a second clone shows up. Lucy collapsed to her knees, exhausted after fighting at her fullest and summoning several spirits. The rest of the crew are also completely exhausted as well. And then a third one drops out of the sky with a third clone and a woman who looked like she wouldn't be out of place at a sumo wrestling match.

It fires a laser at them and they dodge. Luffy orders them to split up and run, but this plan didn't turn out as they'd hoped as they were stopped by not only the PX-1, which was the clone that the woman had come down with, but they were also stopped by a man named Kizaru, the user of the Pika Pika no Mi and one of the three Marine Admirals. He kicks Zoro, completely immobilizing him because of his other injures. Lucy screamed out his name and ran to his side as Brook and Usopp tried to stop Kizaru from killing Zoro.

Tears on her cheeks, Lucy stood angrily. "Open, Gate of the Twins! I summon thee, Gemini!" she shouted out.

Once the twins popped out, Lucy had them recopy her and then turn into her. They took each other's hands and glared steadily at Kizaru as they began to chant together. During this time, Rayleigh had arrived and diverted one of Kizaru's kicks. The old man even manages to cut the light man's cheek.

"Survey the Heavens, Open the Heavens. All the stars, far and wide, Show me thy appearance With such shine. Oh Tetrabiblos, I am the ruler of the stars. Aspect become complete. Open thy malevolent gate. Oh 88 Stars of the heavens, Shine!" Lucy and Gemini chanted in sync.

The area around them became filled with floating orbs that appeared astral in origin. Both Rayleigh and Kizaru notice this and look over at Lucy. They were shocked to see that she had apparently doubled, but not only that, she and Gemini were glowing in a golden light. They opened their eyes in unison, their eyes golden magic circles. They looked like angry goddesses. Sensing the potential danger, Rayleigh immediately got out of the way.

"Urano Metria!" they shouted, levitating off the ground.

The eighty eight astral bodies surrounding them glowed brightly before shooting towards Kizaru in a bright light show. It looked as if the stars themselves were attacking him in broad daylight. When the lights cleared, Gemini disappeared back to the Celestial Realm and Lucy's eyes rolled back in her head as she passed out from the drain on her magic, collapsing next to Zoro. Kizaru appeared from the cloud of dust that was created from the attack. He was breathing heavily and scraped and bruised. Rayleigh was shocked that Lucy had done so much damage to him.

"Lucy!" Zoro groaned in concern.

Painfully and slowly, Zoro reached for her, right before the real Kuma attacks the clone, stopping it from killing Usopp. Kuma then hits Lucy, causing her to disappear right before Zoro's eyes. He screamed her name before glaring at Kuma with eyes full of rage that promised a painful death. Then he was hit by Kuma as well . . . . One by one, the rest of the crew were hit and sent to someplace far far away.


	20. Lucy's Island Training

Like the other Straw Hats, Lucy flew for three whole days and nights after being hit by Kuma before landing rather roughly on a random island in the Grand Line. It was actually amazing that Lucy, nor any of the other members of the crew, did not land in water, considering the water to land ratio. She woke up a day later, regaining consciousness from the drain on her magic and the damage taken from being hit by Kuma, as well as landing on the island. The latter left a paw shaped crater in the earth.

She groaned as she came to in the center of the crater. Sitting up and gingerly rubbing her aching head, she looked around. It appeared she was on one of the tropical islands as she was surrounded by tall canopies and the weather was humid and hot. Lucy could hear the sounds of wild animals around her as she slowly stood, ignoring the protests of her aching and sore body. There were also many exotic looking flowers and plants surrounding her.

Her blood ran cold as she heard the growling of predator behind her. Slowly, she turned to see red eyes glaring at her through the foliage. Suddenly she forgot all about her injured body as she bolted away from whatever the creature was. She ran and ran until she was ready to collapse.

"Where the heck am I?" she wondered aloud in confusion. "Luffy! Nami! Chopper! Robin! Franky! Usopp! Brook! Sanji! . . . Zoro?" she called out.

But there was no answer. Lucy was all alone on this island. She grabbed one of the keys from her keychain. "Open, Gate of the Hare! I summon thee, Lepus!" she called out.

With a golden light, the timid rabbit eared spirit appeared before her. "H-h-how ca-an I help y-y-you, M-M-Miss Lu-Lucy?"

"Lepus, could you take a quick run around the island for me? So I can get an idea of where I'm at?" Lucy asked. She hated asking Lepus to do the mule work, but it would take her forever to do it on her own and speed was Lepus' thing.

Lepus didn't seem to mind though. "O-Of course, M-Miss Lucy! I'll d-d-do what I c-can!" she said quickly before dashing off in a blur, weaving through the trees.

Lucy smiled after her before beginning to look around.

• • •

Elsewhere in the Grandline, Zoro stood before Hawk Eyes Mihawk in his dark, dreary castle. He clenched his fists as he prepared to swallow his pride. Zoro had failed to protect everyone, especially Lucy, back at Sabaody, and those damned gorillas had nearly gotten to him too. He needed to be stronger, the strongest he could possibly be. He remembered the fear and pain that had gripped his heart when he'd watched Lucy disappear from right in front of him, ripped away just before he could grab her hand . . . He wouldn't let it happen again.

He got down on his knees and placed his head on the stone floor, prostrating himself before the man whose head it was his dream to take. Mihawk's eyebrows rose in surprise, as did the present Perona's. Both of them were surprised and a little bit shocked that Zoro was putting himself in such a position.

"Please train me!" Zoro shouted.

Mihawk blinked at him before laughing at him. "You want me to train the man who wants to take my head?"

Zoro remained silent, not moving from his position.

" . . . It seems I overestimated you, to think you'd stoop so low, abandoning your pride." he said. Mihawk seemed . . . disappointed in Zoro somehow.

"Please . . . there's someone . . . I want . . . I need to protect." said Zoro.

Mihawk cocked his head at Zoro in response to this. 'So, he's the kind of person who can throw away their pride for another sake.' He smirked. "Very well, but you'll have to listen to everything I say and not question my methods."

Zoro raised his head to look at Mihawk, eyes determined. "Thank you."

• • •

Back with Lucy, Lepus had returned. "H-h-here M-Miss Lu-Lucy. I f-found a ma-map while I was exp-p-ploring ." the spirit said as she handed Lucy a piece of weathered, faded, and aged parchment map.

It was a map of a star shaped island and it was labeled "Starfall Island". There was a mountain at the center of the island, and two lakes on the northern section of the "star". That would be excellent as the lakes were likely freshwater and that meant that Lucy would have a steady supply of drinkable water, and if she could figure out how to make a sufficiently usable pole, she could eat plenty of fish, and there were tons of fruit. So food and water weren't a problem. But she needed to create or find a shelter until she could build a raft or a boat came by. Preferably a boat would come by as a raft stood little chance in the Grandline.

"Oh, and u-um . . . th-there's lots of d-d-danger-rous c-creatures on th-the isla-land." Lepus informed her.

Thanking Lepus and dismissing her, Lucy summoned Virgo needing some new clothes to replace her torn and tattered ones. Luckily Virgo seemed to know the situation had fresh clothes all ready to go when she appeared before Lucy. She quickly changed and began heading towards the northern end of the island in search of the lake. On the way however, she found something very intriguing.

While she was walking, watching for any of the dangerous animals that Lepus had mentioned, her foot hit something hard and she stumbled back, holding her injured toes. She looked up to see what it was she had hit her foot on, and there was an unnatural triangular shape jutting up from the earth, almost like there was a box buried there. Curious, Lucy began unearthing the wooden box until she was finally able to pull it free of the soil's grip. It wasn't an overly big box, about five inches deep, a foot lengthwise, and around ten inches in width. The hinges and the lock were severely rusted and the wood was old but somehow preserved.

Lucy easily broke off the lock by hand and opened it. Inside was a thick, aged book. A folded slip of aged parchment slipped out as she gingerly opened the book. Setting it down, she picked up the folded parchment and carefully opened it so as not to cause unnecessary damage. The writing was surprisingly legible for it being as old as it was. It was a note addressed to whomever found the box and it read as such;

To Whomever Finds This

My name is Cecilia Starla, and I am not from this land. I am from a place called Earthland and it is a place filled with magic and those who use it . . . I am one of those people. To be specific, I am a Celestial Spirit Mage, or was rather. I was sent here some time ago by a magical spell. During my time here I searched and searched for a way to return home, unfortunately I never found one.

I am old now, and I'm certain I don't have many years left, so I am returning to the place that I arrived to and leaving this book here. It contains all of the spells and techniques I have learned during my years here as well as documentation on how I survived this island. If you are a Celestial Mage like me, I left the obsidian keys that I had brought with me to this world at Skypiea. Should you find them, I ask that you treat them with as much love as I have.

I wish you the best of luck and I hope what I have written helps you in your journey.

Yours Truly

Cecelia Starla

Lucy gently folded the paper and put it back inside the book. "Thank you, Cecelia." she said.

She used her torn cloths to make a rucksack and placed the book inside before continuing on.

• • •

Lucy spent several hours getting to one of the lakes. This was mostly because she had spent the majority of that time running from the monsters that inhabited the island. She had tried to fight them, she really had, but both she and her spirits had been too weak to do much damage, so she had been forced to choose the second option, run.

Exhausted, Lucy collapsed to her knees on the edge of the lake. She cupped her hand into the blissfully cool water and began drinking, scooping the water up to her lips until her thirst was sated. Heaving a tired sigh, she laid by the water and just listened to the soothing sounds of it lapping at the shore. Her eyes began closing . . .

When she woke up, she gasped in awe at what she saw. All around her the air was filled with the gentle pulsing lights of thousands upon millions of bioluminescent insects. It was like the island was covered in stars. Lucy slowly stood, pivoting as she admired the beauty that surrounded her in amazement that took her breath away. In her awe, she spotted something she hadn't noticed before, one of the trees near the lake had makeshift ladder rungs leading up into the canopy.

Curious, she walked over to the tree, picking up her things. Fastening her things to her belt, she began climbing the rungs. The rungs led her up to wooden platform in the trees, or rather to a hatch in the platform. Freeing one hand, she opened the hatch and climbed up into what was actually a treehouse, one that was surprisingly well built and in surprisingly good condition. This was the shelter that Cecelia had made for herself during her stay on the island.

The treehouse was dusty and dirty, but it had a cot and a makeshift table. Getting herself pumped up, Lucy began tidying the place up until it practically sparkled with cleanliness. Finally, she sat down to begin reading the journal Cecelia had left. Until Lucy could figure out a way off this island, she was going to train like the devil to get stronger, fueled by the desire to protect her friends. About a week later, a newspaper blew into the treehouse and her heart nearly broke when she read the headline . . . Luffy's brother Ace had died while Luffy had tried to save him. Another few weeks later, another newspaper blew in, this one with a hidden message from the captain of the Straw Hats for the crew to meet again in two years.

She continued to train every day for the following two years. In between gathering food and materials, she worked on a raft. A year and six months into her training, it became clear to her just how much it had paid off as she was able to dispatch the monsters on the island. By the end of the two years, she was able to defeat the monsters rather easily. Her body had become firmer and more muscled, though her curves were just as generous as before. Lucy was actually quite proud of how much stronger she had become, both physically and magically.

The day had finally come for her to leave the island. She packed supplies to last her the journey, which she was expecting to last three weeks at most, which was also the main reason why she was leaving three weeks before the actual two year mark. To be honest, Lucy really didn't trust the raft on the waters of the Grand Line, but there wasn't really another option for her. That was when Aquila appeared before her and offered to carry her. It would take less time and he was strong enough to do so. Lucy accepted the offer, relieved by the much safer option of travel. So, bag on her back, Lucy got on Aquila's back and summoned Merry, who would guide them. And, since he was a spirit, he could float. Leaping into the air, Aquila took off, followed by Merry. Lucy couldn't wait to see Zoro again.


	21. Reunion at Sabaody

Lucy arrived on Sabaody later than she expected. In fact, it was the exact day they were supposed to meet up. Turns out, Starfall Island was farther from Sabaody than Lucy had originally anticipated, and Aquila had had to stop at several islands to rest. As such, it wasn't until the exact day they were supposed to meet up. When she got to the island, she dismissed Aquila and Merry and began walking to Shakky's bar. She was slightly drained from weeks of having two spirits almost constantly summoned, but she had kind of gotten used to it.

The island had become a bit more lawless since two years before as the Marines had moved their base to the New World. However, because of rumors circulating around about the Straw Hats returning to the island, there were several Marines patrolling the island, as well as several Straw Hat imposters. Brook was on the island giving a show as the superstar musician known as "Soul King", Sanji also arrives on the island and promptly begins to cry at the sight of real women as he bids farewell to the okama that had dropped him off while flipping them off. Nami and Usopp encounter each other at a bar, where they dispatch of a fake Nami and Luffy that had been trying to recruit strong crew members. Robin arrives at the island as well while Chopper is taken in by one of the fake Straw Hat crews.

Upon arriving at Shakky's bar, Lucy finds out that Zoro had been on the island as well, and that Franky had arrived ten days afterwards, followed by Nami, Usopp, Chopper, and Brook. During their two year absence, Duval and his men had protected the Thousand Sunny. Shakky decided to mention how Zoro came to her bar every day to ask if Lucy had arrived yet, and the thought made the blonde mage's heart flutter. With that information gathered, Lucy left to search for Zoro, just missing the blonde cook as he arrived at Shakky's bar. Meanwhile, another fake Luffy is threatening a hooded man with a pistol, but is promptly knocked out by the man's haki, that man being the real Luffy of course.

While that was happening, Robin returned to the ship where she met Franky who had seemingly gotten an upgrade. Chopper runs away from the fake Straw Hats when they refused to send some people to rescue the kidnapped fake Robin, disbelieving that they could do such a horrible thing. Meanwhile Sanji tries to buy some fish from a fisherman, but he was too busy panicking about a client that had wanted to go fishing but had gotten on a pirate ship instead of the fishing boat and went under water, and Sanji got the feeling he knew exactly who this person was so he told the fisherman not panic as "that guy" could take care of himself. Sure enough, the pirate ship burst through the surface of the water . . . cut into two pieces, Zoro, bearing new scars, sitting on the mast before jumping to shore.

He turns to Sanji. "Oi . . . Ero-cook . . . have you seen Lucy?"

"Hah? Like I would be here looking at your ugly mug, Marimo if I'd seen my darling Lucy-swan!? All I know is that she's somewhere on the island." Sanji replied.

Zoro's eye narrowed slightly at the cook. " . . . She's not your anything, you shitty cook." He said before turning and walking off briskly, eager to reunite with the woman he had been thinking and dreaming about for two long years during his training with Mihawk. There had been the underlying tone of "she's mine" to his voice.

Sanji chased after him, telling Zoro that he and the rest of the crew didn't have the time to search for him when he got lost and that they should just go to the ship and wait for the others. Zoro doesn't really like the idea, still wanting to find Lucy as soon as possible, but he supposed that going to the ship was the better idea. So, reluctantly, he agreed. Meanwhile, Nami and Usopp had met up with Chopper to save the kidnapped fake Robin that Chopper believed to be the real one. Luffy follows the fake Zoro and Sanji to the fake Luffy. A little bit later, Chopper, Nami, and Usopp return to the ship and are happily reunited with the real Robin and Franky.

Back with the real Luffy, the fake Luffy orders the other pirates that have joined him to attack Luffy, but before anything can happen, they're surrounded by Marines. Zoro and Sanji hear the commotion and of course come running. The Marines attack when the fake Luffy surrenders, and then the Pacifistas arrive. It is then that the fake Straw Hats' ruse was revealed, a bunch of low bounty pirates tricking higher bounties into joining them using the Straw Hats' notorious strength. The Pacifista finds and targets the real Luffy and fires a laser at him. Luffy dodges but loses his disguise, causing the fake Straw Hats to nearly wet themselves when they realize they had threatened the real deal. The rest of the Marines run while Sentomaru confronts Luffy and orders the Pacifista to fire again. Luffy dodges again and uses Gear Second, jumping into the air and swiftly taking it out in punch and leaving a crater.

Deciding he didn't want to cause too much trouble before their departure, Luffy leaves to head to the ship, which is when he sees Zoro and Lucy running towards him. Another Pacifista got between them but was swiftly dealt with as it was met with an attack from both of the men. They soon rush off to rejoin with their crew, who have been joined by Brook. Zoro seem very disappointed when he sees that the only one missing . . . is Lucy.

Elsewhere on the island, Lucy was still searching for Zoro when she encounters one of the Pacifistas. It looks at her and recognizes her as "Summoner" Lucy Heartfilia.

"Summoner Lucy Heartfilia, Bounty; 700,000,000 beli. Wanted Dead." The Pacifista proclaims aloud as it identifies her.

"SEVEN HUNDRED MILLION!? WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" Lucy exclaimed.

Apparently, when she damaged the Light fruit user, it had gotten her a lot of the wrong kind of attention in the Marine Headquarters. Their initial suspicions about Lucy from Aokiji's initial report were proven correct. It seems that Lucy's magic gave her a certain loophole around the abilities of a Logia type fruit user, as Celestial Magic was not an element on its own, and a very powerful magic in the hands of a gifted mage. As such, the spell Urano Metria was able to damage Kizaru, negating his Light fruit abilities, whereas any of Lucy's spirits and herself would have failed to damage him.

Instead of answering her, the Pacifista opened it's mouth to fire a laser at her, making clear it's intentions to attack her. Rather than running, like she might have done the past, Lucy stood her ground and confidently prepared to fight. She had spent the last two years training to like mad and she was now much stronger than she was before.

Taking Taurus' key out and pressing it to her chest, she calls out, "Star Dress! Form Taurus!"

Her body became encased in a golden light and when it dissipated she was left standing in different attire. Lucy was wearing a cow print bikini top with fringe, a black leather choker with a cowbell attacked to it, cow print arm coverings that went into brown leather gloves. For her lower half, she wore black leather pants with the right leg missing, which were held up with a brown leather belt that had Taurus' symbol on the buckle, and final she wore brown leather mid-shin boots. Lucy's long blonde hair, which had grown out significantly during her time on the island, was done up into side buns on either side of her head with two locks hanging down, framing her face.

The Pacifista fired a laser at her and she was forced to dodge out of the way. Quickly regaining her composure, she took her magic whip from her belt and activated it. She whipped it at the Pacifista and it stretched before securely wrapping around it. Gripping the handle tightly, she threw the Pacifista over her head, slamming him into the ground, then she did it again, and again. The whip's grip loosened and retracted before Lucy used it to rip up a chunk of the ground, then used the whip to slam it into the Pacifista, destroying it.

Lucy smirked as she looked at the defeated Pacifista, which served as proof of her new strength, but of course, this Star Dress form made her super strong, like the spirit it was for. Deactivating the spell, she began heading towards where the ship had been hidden, eager to see Zoro again. She had looked for him on the island long enough and figured that maybe he was already at the ship, and if he wasn't she'd wait for him there.

When she got there, she would see that the entire crew was already there, waiting for her. Including Zoro. Grinning brightly, she ran up the gangplank and to Zoro, and he seemed pretty damned happy to see her too, judging by his grin. Lucy was about to throw herself into his arms but stopped just a foot from him and he gave her a confused and disappointed look.

'That's right . . . he doesn't want the others to know that we're . . . together.' Lucy thought, looking crestfallen.

Zoro had been confused about why she had stopped. He ignored the others in the background, who had been silenced by Robin's hands, which also served to stop Sanji's nose from bleeding at the sight of the blonde mage. He examined Lucy. He could sense that she was a lot stronger than she had been two years ago. Zoro also noted that her body was leaner and more toned, though still just as voluptuous, not that he cared about that. Her clothes were different too.

She was wearing a white cutoff shirt with sleeves that poofed at the elbows and showed a generous amount of cleavage. Over that she wore a bluish black jacket that ended mid-bicep and was tied to match the length of her shirt. The sleeves of the jacked were tied with a gold ribbon at the end. Her short shorts were the same color as the jacket and were held up with a leather belt. There was a blue ribbon holding up her usual side ponytail. On her hands she wore backless, black leather gloves, and to complete the look she wore her usual knee high boots. (Thank you crysiblu!)

Zoro figured out why she had stopped once he had seen her crestfallen look. He didn't care about the crew knowing their feelings for each other anymore, he hadn't seen her in two years and he'd be damned if he let the presence of everyone else stop him from kissing her. Taking a step forward, Zoro put an arm around Lucy's waist and pulled her to him until she was flush against him. At the same time, he craned his head down and mashed his lips against hers.

Lucy let out a surprised squeak, stiffening slightly before relaxing and closing her eyes, kissing him back happily as she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck. Neither noticed the muffled screams of rage coming from Sanji. Robin and Nami were smiling. Luffy looked confused, Franky, Brook, Chopper, and Usopp were shocked at the sight.

Zoro and Lucy had no idea how long they had been kissing for, but it felt like an eternity, and neither of them minded, both of them wishing that the kiss could last forever. In all actuality, they had spent several minutes kissing and holding each other until they were breathless. They pulled away from each other, lightly panting as they looked into each other's eyes. Speaking of which, Lucy gently traced the scar over Zoro's eye with a sad look, as if she was thinking about how much pain he must have gone through during his training and when he lost his eye.

Unfortunately, their "private" moment was interrupted when some marine ships arrived and began firing cannonballs at the Thousand Sunny. They were stopped by the Shichibukai Boa Hancock, who Luffy told them was a friend, creating a diversion so the Straw Hats could escape. Franky opened some valves under the ship to let air into the jelly-like substance coating the shit to expand it, causing it to form a bubble around the sunny. At this point, the marines had stopped chasing them, due to the combined efforts of the friends everyone had made. Franky removes the floating bag from the ship and the Thousand Sunny begins sinking into the sea. The Straw Hats began their journey to Fishman Island.


	22. Chapter 22

~Five Years Later~

Five years after we left the Straw Hats to their adventures, we find them where they wanted to be. The crew have made it to the end of the Grandline and found the One Piece, making Luffy king of the pirates. Zoro has become the strongest swordsman in the world. Nami has mapped every island in the world. Sanji has found the All Blue. Franky saw the Thousand Sunny become a great ship. Brook got to see Laboon again, UsChopper became a doctor that could cure all diseases. opp never became the bravest man in the world, but he tries hard to be. Robin learned what the one hundred years of missing history were. Everyone pretty much went their separate ways after achieving their dreams. And Lucy . . . she was just happy to have gone on adventures with everyone and spend those years with the man she loved most in the world, Zoro.

They argued sometimes, but they always found ways to make it right, and Zoro had started getting better at the whole romance thing. The only thing Lucy worried about was what she would do when Mavis returned to bring her back to Earthland. She still missed her friends there greatly, but she didn't want to leave Zoro or her friends here either. Lucy hated the idea of being forced to choose, though ultimately, deep in her heart, she knew who she would pick, even if it was selfish of her.

Zoro, bless him, had actually worked out a plan with the others. When the end of her seven years in this universe was approaching, the whole crew got gathered back together again. Lucy wasn't sure what was going as she hadn't been let in on the plan, but she was happy to see everyone again. Luffy purposed that they go on another adventure together, and who were they to deny the King of the Pirates?

A week after everyone had gathered and set out on the Thousand Sunny, Mavis Vermillion appeared on the deck. The crew members that had not seen her before weren't surprised as they might have been since they had already been told about the spirit. Lucy looked guilty as she saw her.

Mavis Vermillion smiled at Lucy. "Everyone on the island has woken up and returned to the guild. Everyone is combining their strength so that I can bring you back, but I get the feel-"

"Yeah, I'm just going to have to cut you off there, but Lucy isn't going anywhere . . . not without us at least." Zoro said, cutting her off.

Lucy blinked and gaped in shock at him, while Mavis only cocked her head at him with a mysterious smile. "Zoro . . . what are you talking about?" asked Lucy.

"We're going with you!" Luffy said excitedly. "There's probably lots more adventures in your world! And it's full of magic!" he said with sparkling eyes.

"AWESOME!" Usopp and Chopper chorused.

Chuckling, Robin piped in, "We have already achieved all your dreams, so we thought maybe that we could find new ones to pursue in this Earthland of yours."

"We also didn't want to force you to pick between us and your friends back home." said Nami.

Lucy had tears of joy lingering on her lashes as she looked at everyone, extremely happy that they would be so willing to come with her to Earthland, after all. She turned to Mavis hopefully. "Can . . . can you do that?"

Mavis was quiet for a few moments as she thought about it, estimated how much magic it would take to transport them, and how much magic she could use from the gathered mages, giving their magical energy to allow Lucy's return. "Hmm, I believe I can!" she answered cheerily.

"What about the ship?" asked Franky. "Because I'm not leaving the Sunny."

The other crew members voiced their agreement with this. Mavis went quiet again as she did some recalculating. "It should be possible. It will make it even easier to transport everyone if they're inside the ship. And Magnolia has a port!" she said with a cheery smile.

"Then let's all get below deck!" Luffy announced.

The crew nodded their assent as they all began clambering down below deck with varying degrees of energy to wait for their arrival in the world of Earthland.

• • •

Mavis appeared before the members of the Fairy Tail guild. They had felt the magical energy that Mavis had used to bring Lucy back, however, Lucy was nowhere to be seen. They looked around, slightly confused. They may not be able to spot the blonde Celestial Mage, but Mavis had this strange smile on her face as if she had just finished her goal successfully.

"Um . . . First Master . . . Where is Lucy?" asked Master Makarov.

Mavis giggled slightly at the Third, Fifth, and Seventh master. "They're likely heading for the docks."

"Who's they?" asked Erza.

"Well, Lucy made some really good friends during her time in the other universe, and rather than making her choose between Fairy Tail and them, they chose to come with her." Mavis explained. "So I brought them all!"

"ALRIGHT!" Natsu shouted, bursting through the door, nearly ripping it off of its hinges. "LET'S GO GET LUCY!"

"AYE!" Happy shouted as he floated after Natsu.

The other members of the guild exchanged looks before following after the Fire Dragon Slayer. They all arrived at the port to see a ridiculously flamboyant and outlandish ship coming in to dock. The ship's bow was a lion's head, but the mane of the lion made it look like a sunflower. Essentially . . . it was in fitting with the flamboyance of the Fairy Tail Guild and its mages.

And there was Lucy, jumping up and down at the railing of the ship, shouting excited greetings at her friends that she had not seen for seven years. Once the ship was close enough, Lucy jumped off of the ship and onto the dock, surprising the rest of guild as Lucy had always been more of the tamer members of the guild. Natsu however, didn't care, and immediately rushed in to give Lucy a bear hug and Happy flew into the blonde mage.

A scrawny black haired boy jumped off the ship as well, before the gangplank was lowered and the remaining members of the pirate crew walked off of the ship. Mirajane notice how a particular green haired user of the three sword style looked a little teeny bit jealous as he watch Lucy and Natsu. She smirked. The assortment that came off of the ship were even more varied and strange that the Fairy Tail mages were.

Over the next few days, Lucy spent the majority of her time catching up with the members of the guild and telling them about her adventures over the last seven years and about the training she had undergone. The rest of the Straw Hats fit in just fine with the guild, in fact, they were readily welcomed into the guild and Franky of course immediately started making renovations to the poor excuse of a building that had become Fairy Tail's headquarters. They were even made members of the guild and immediately began taking jobs. Lucy always went with Zoro on jobs, considering his sense of direction was still terrible, which by extension led to Natsu and Happy coming with them as they were Lucy's closest friends.

Zoro wasn't very appreciative of the extra company or how clingy the pink haired Dragon Slayer was to his girlfriend. He had even tried to sneak into Lucy's bed once, while the lovebirds were sharing the bed as they had been doing for a few years now. Zoro saw to it that Natsu never even thought about attempting it again. With the added company, he hardly ever got to spend some time alone with Lucy anymore, and that made a certain plan of his very difficult to pull off, so needless to say, the boy was severely getting on his nerves. And though she never said anything, Zoro sensed it may have started getting on Lucy's nerves too.

Then one day, finally, finally, he managed to get her alone for a night out together. After some unrequested help from Mirajane of course, help that she managed to provide without the swordsman's knowledge. And so it was that Zoro and Lucy stopped to have a small picnic at the park. Lucy prepared the food because Zoro wasn't a very good cook. Lucy noticed that something strange was going on with Zoro, he seemed . . . distracted, like he was thinking about something. And he was also quieter than he usually was when they were together, not that he was very talkative anyway, but they still had small conversations.

"Zoro . . . is something wrong?" asked Lucy, snapping him out of his distracted musings.

"Huh?" he asked before registering what she had said. "No, there's nothing wrong." Zoro told her.

In truth he felt a mixture of apprehensiveness and nervousness for what he was going to do. They had been together for about six years now, so it was about time he did this right? Zoro and Lucy had talked about it sometimes but this was different. But he was certain of one thing, Lucy was his girlfriend, and his best friend, and he loved her, and he honestly couldn't picture his life without her. Changing his position from its current reclining one to kneeling in front of her, he reached into his pocket for something he had been waiting to give her. Lucy eyed him curiously, head cocked to the side.

Zoro took a deep breath as he removed the small velvet box from his pocked and held it out in front of him. He saw Lucy's eyes widen slightly and heard her small gasp. "Listen Lucy . . . I'm not really good at this sort of thing and I don't have any sort of sappy or mushy speech prepared, but you're precious to me and I honestly don't want to think about what my life would be like without you. So . . . Lucy . . . Will you be my wife?" he asked as he opened up the box.

Inside was a gorgeous ring. The band was rose gold and resting at the top were three glistening pink sapphires, all in brilliant cut. Two smaller ones were on either side of the larger middle one. Zoro didn't want to think about how much he owed Nami for giving him the money he needed to purchase it. At least he could take jobs and earn enough money to pay her back. Lucy's jaw dropped and she looked like she was about to cry, from happiness Zoro was hoping. Suddenly she grinned and threw her arms around him in excitement.

"YES!" she said enthusiastically. "Of course I will!"

• • •

Zoro grunted in annoyance, tugging at the noose known as a tie that was tied around his neck. He didn't want to wear a suit, but both the Straw Hats and the Fairy Tail guild members forced him to wear one, the women especially. Sanji gladly provided his cooking services, and Brook was happy to provide music, but Mirajane also wanted to perform so they would be sharing the stage. Franky and the others arranged the ceremony and the decorations. Everyone from the guild would be there, as well as the whole Straw Hat crew. Lucy was getting ready to walk down the aisle with Erza, Levy, and Wendy, her bridesmaids', and her flower girl, Asuka, while everyone else was waiting on the benches. Freed had the honor of performing the rites.

"Zoro!" Luffy whined. "How much longer do we have to wait? I'm hungry, I wanna eat!"

"Just wait a little bit longer Luffy, this is going to be a really special day for Lucy and I. And for Luce especially, so if you ruin it, she's going to be really mad at you, so will the rest of the women here." Zoro told him. Perhaps choosing him as best man wasn't the best idea.

The music started, signaling the arrival of the bride. Asuka came first, spreading the flower petals, followed by Levi, Erza, and Wendy, who took their places by the altar, and finally, Lucy. Zoro's heart stopped and he forgot how to breathe for a brief moment at the sight of her. Normally he wasn't really concerned with what she wore, but she looked . . . like an angel, much more so than she did when she had almost been forcefully married.

The dress was strapless and pure white with a ruffled skirt that was hiked up at the front, revealing part of her thighs while the back of the skirt trailed. The high heeled shoes were silver and the straps were glittery, causing them to sparkle. Lucy's hair was done up in an elegant bun with trailing locks that were curled delicately, and sitting atop her head was a wedding tiara which had a thin veil attached to it. Scratch that, she looked like an angel princess. The bouquet she was carrying was an assortment of soft colored flowers tied together with a pink ribbon. Sanji was crying from where he was sitting. From sadness or joy it was unclear, maybe both.

Makarov was beaming proudly and happily since one of his "children" was getting married and Lucy was beaming in pure joy. The guild master just walked beside Lucy rather than holding her hand or hooking their arms together as that would have been awkward, given the height difference. Makarov gave Lucy away at the altar and took his seat as Lucy took her place in front of Zoro. Finally, Freed began reciting the rites. For Zoro and Lucy, the words were muffled as they were focused on only each other, only processing the words enough to catch their cues to say "I do".

Romeo came up the aisle carrying a pillow with rings tied to it, Lucy and Zoro's matching gold wedding bands, when it came time to exchange the rings. Taking a ring from the pillow, Zoro put the ring on Lucy's finger, sliding it up to meet with her engagement ring. Lucy did the same to him, smiling at him with those big eyes of hers practically shining with love.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride." said Freed.

All the girls watched excitedly as the newly married couple smiled at each other and came closer to each other and kissed each tenderly. Everyone started cheering and squealing, in the case of the girls. Zoro and Lucy enjoyed the kiss for a few moments before pulling away and smiling at each other again. Grinning, she turned her back to the crowd and tossed her bouquet. Erza, Juvia, and Evergreen were like demons as they tried to the one to catch it first. The bouquet somehow magically landed in Levy's hands.

After that, a massive and wild party commenced as everyone celebrated, eating, drinking, and partying to their hearts to content. And Lucy and Zoro had never been happier.


	23. Epilogue

Zoro opened the door to his home, placing the jewels he had just earned from the SS Class mission he had just completed on the counter next to the entryway. It felt good to be back home. He could smell Lucy cooking dinner in the kitchen.

"DADDY!" three little voices shouted as the triplets scurried out into the entryway to greet their father.

Zoro grinned and picked up his three five year old kids. "Layla, Jude, Kuina, have you all been good?" he asked.

"Of course daddy!" they chorused.

Layla II was a blond haired girl who looked like her mother, Jude had green hair and his mother's soft, honey brown eyes, and Kuina had green hair with her father's eyes.

"Did you bring us gifts?" asked Kuina.

"Yeah yeah, but wait till later, okay sweetie?" said Zoro.

"Okay daddy." said Kuina excitedly.

Smiling, he set them down as Lucy came around the corner, carrying the cooking spoon she'd been using, and wearing an apron over her swollen belly. She gave him a loving, beaming smile. He could hear Natsu and Gray arguing in the living room, signifying they were visiting, but he was used to it by now and ignored the ruckus. Zoro walked over to Lucy and kissed her tenderly, putting one hand around her waist and the other automatically, caressing her stomach.

"Welcome home." Lucy said with a smile as they pulled away.

"It's good to be home." Zoro responded. "So, how's the little guy?" he asked, looking down at her pregnant stomach.

"She is fine." said Lucy with a smile.

"How do you know it's a girl?"

"How do you know it's a boy?" Lucy shot back.

"EEWWW!" Jude exclaimed as he ran from the room. "Mom and Dad are being mushy again!"

Lucy chuckled kissed Zoro again. "It's good to have you back, now you should go play with the kids, I have to get back to dinner before something burns." she said before heading back into the kitchen.

Layla II and Kuina got excited and grabbed his hands, beginning to pull him outside. "Come on! Let's play! Let's play!" they chanted as he let them pull him along.

Zoro smiled as they were joined by Jude. He was happy, and he would most likely be happy for the rest of his days. He had a wonderful family, but he can still go out and fight really strong monsters. Life was perfect. Lucy and Zoro had never been happier.

THE END


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